Iron Maiden
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Being a father isn't easy. Especially when you don't know you are one. Tony gets a rather big surprise when Pepper's new protege turns out to be his kid. Jazz Evans has her own demons to battle, which isn't easy when you're a glorified babysitter for someone like Tony Stark. And what's with the secret glances between Jazz and Rhodey? What are they hiding?
1. Chapter 1

Jazz Evans had come to California for one reason and one reason only. To become a special intern at one of the biggest tech and weapon companies in the world.

To be honest, most of her reason for picking Stark Industries was more personal than for anything she would gain by interning there. She still had her inheritance, even if the Goblins were rather pissed at her for pulling out over half of it from their precious banks to invest heavily in the real world.

She had various accounts under different names, but left a respectable amount under her current alias so she could legally claim to be living off her inheritance. The rest of it was squirreled away under false identities that she could access online to invest in different companies.

She had found an entry in her mother's journal (strangely stashed in her trust vault) that made her suspect James Potter _wasn't_ her biological father.

Oh she still had her original inheritance, but the possibility that she might have a father out there, _alive_ , was too tempting not to investigate.

The fact it gave her the perfect excuse to leave England behind and make her own fortunes without being dragged down by the nonsense Dumbledore kept pulling made the idea even more appealing.

She double checked the interview time, and got into the elevator. She was so nervous she almost missed the fact she wasn't alone.

"Aren't you a bit young to be applying here for a job?" asked the man next to her. He looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't pin down why.

"Not here for a job. I'm here for the internship interviews. There's no age limit on that," she replied.

She had faced down Voldemort and near death from multiple magical creatures. A stupid interview should _not_ be making her this nervous!

The man snorted.

"So long as you don't simper at Stark and try to get into the boss' pants, I have little doubt Pepper would jump at hiring you. Every idiot who's applied so far has either been a cocky moron or some halfwit trying to jump into bed with Stark and get their claws into his fortune," he commented. "And the few who _did_ managed to survive usually quit because they get tired after cleaning up after him."

Jazz highly doubted dealing with Tony Stark would be nearly as trying as half of what she had to put up with before now.

Even a grown man-child was nothing compared to dealing with the Dursleys. So long as he didn't try to flirt with her she could put up with damn near anything.

The elevator dinged, and the man left. It took her a moment to realize this was the floor she had to get off on as well, and she followed directions to a waiting area where several people were sitting to be interviewed.

After an hour or two, she was called up.

Pepper Potts looked rather frazzled, but managed to keep a professional attitude.

Jazz liked her immediately.

Pepper blinked when she saw Jazz.

"Aren't you a bit young to be trying for an internship?"

"Which makes me too young to be within Stark's 'strike range' for acceptable bed partners and him too old to be within mine," she easily countered.

Pepper took a moment to process that, before she beamed at Jazz.

"Let me guess...first job?" asked Pepper somewhat kindly.

"Yeah. I've been living off my parent's inheritance for a while now, but I want some real world experience while I complete my education online. I'm less likely to be picked up by truant officers if I'm busy working and doing my homework after normal school hours," said Jazz.

"And your parents are okay with this?"

"Why wouldn't they be? It's not like they've actively been part of my life before now," said Jazz, deliberately not saying that her parents had been dead since before she was two.

Instead she implied that they were typical "hands-off rich folk" who were more inclined to spend time either at the business or on lavish vacations while the kid was stuck with nannies, tutors and bodyguards who could care less so long as they were paid.

Not uncommon or frowned upon, so long as she did her job and didn't cause trouble. It also meant that Pepper was unlikely to look too hard into it so long as she fully believed that Jazz was a typical "trust fund baby" looking to step out of her parent's shadow.

As the interview continued, Jazz tried to be as honest as possible, while relying on a few half-truths like what school she had gone to before now.

It only took three days to get the call. She had the job!

* * *

It was official. Pepper was in love with her new intern. Jazz was hardworking, generally honest, and could handle Tony's more annoying quirks without complaint.

There _had_ to be a catch, outside of the fact she wasn't used to modern technology like tablets and smart phones.

Apparently her old boarding school was so out of the way they didn't even get cell reception and they discouraged using anything other than some outdated computers. Jazz was a very bright thing and caught on very quickly though, so that was okay if a bit odd.

Then came the real test... Telling Tony that "No, he couldn't galivant off to some random location because he had a meeting in an hour."

Jazz waited until Tony was about to leave for whatever ridiculous reason he could come up with to get out of the meeting or just be "fashionably late".

"I have undetectable laxatives and I can slip them into Obie coffee. They'll activate within fifteen minutes and he won't know until he starts to shit in his pants," said Jazz.

Tony perked up, always ready for a good prank.

"What's the catch?"

"You have to actually _be_ at the meeting in an hour, and if we time it right then Obie will shit himself in front of everyone and you'll be able to get blackmail," she replied.

Tony was positively giddy at the idea. Forget blowing off the meeting, this sounded like way more fun.

"And if you promise to behave and actually go to meetings for the next two weeks _on time_ , I can promise even more fun. Like giving Rhodey a harmless bout of hiccups for an hour when he's supposed to be talking to his superiors," said Jazz.

Tony looked like she had handed him the holy grail.

"Best. Intern. Ever."

Jazz smiled at him, and Tony had the most surreal feeling of Dejavu for some reason.

Pepper certainly did a rather amusing doubletake when she saw Tony at the meeting, on time and without any of his usual whining. That confusion turned to understanding when Obie had to flee the meeting fifteen minutes in to use the restroom.

He was not happy upon leaving, when he was able to, as someone had mysteriously stolen every single roll of toilet paper in that particular restroom and and the only supply closet was two floors up. Oddly, the elevator wasn't working and those who gamely went to retrieve said rolls had to use the stairs...which became jammed the second they left the floor to get the roll.

Tony laughed himself sick at the fact that Obie had to order some poor bastard to get him a new pair of pants later that night and had to walk around with the ones he had crapped in.

Jazz merely smirked. Obie had given her a bad feeling from the start, one that reminded her far too strongly of Pettigrew to be a coincidence.

Pepper looked at Jazz incredulous.

"How?"

"Carrot and stick approach. I bribed him with an amusing prank he could witness so long as he went to the meeting. He's not too dissimiliar to a pair of identical twins I know."

Pepper felt more than a little relieved. For a split second she thought Jazz had offered up something she shouldn't have to get Tony to cooperate.

"How hard would it be for you to bribe him into coming to the other meetings on time and getting work done?"

"Not too hard. I have plenty of pranks to bribe him with and I'm sure there are enough people who annoy him that would deserve it. As for work...he's an inventor. Sitting still doing paperwork would be anethema to him," she shrugged. "At best I would suggest setting up a system where you do the real paperwork and he just countersigns it when necessary like approving budget or supplies."

Pepper sighed. It was a good plan and one that would keep the headaches to a minimum.

She wasn't the least bit surprised when Tony discreetly left Jazz a new Stark Tablet to play around with during meetings...apparently she had been quite bored during the one she convinced him to go to, and the tablet in question had an app that would allow her to draw.

Tony had rather liked the doodles he had caught her making and wondered what she could do with it if given a chance.

What Jazz didn't find out until she was officially hired as Pepper's "stand-in" whenever the woman fell sick or needed a day off, was that the tablet had a direct link to the R and D department.

Some of the 'doodles' she had been messing around with looked somewhat viable and highly marketable, from what Tony had been able to see during that rather boring meeting. He had a hunch Jazz was a wellspring of ideas that didn't require making a bunch of boring weapons just to shut up the government, and as much as he loved Rhodey he was somewhat tired of their demands that he build more weapons. If he could find a new way to get out of that government contract legally, then he would be a very happy man.

As it was, he had high hopes for the "personal defense" item he had spotted her making within a few hours of getting the tablet and figuring out how to use it.

Two weeks after getting the tablet, Tony started a line of "personal protection" items. Which was mainly a discreet, but somewhat fashionable bracelet filled with five rounds of mace with a chemical dye that would show up under flourescent light but be more or less invisible to the naked eye. The idea behind it was that while mace hurt, it was easily enough to explain it away as an accident.

The dye was specially formulated to be invisible and not wear off naturally for three full days. Which was more than enough time for the cops to use black lights to find anyone who had the rather distinct spray pattern of someone getting hit in the face with it, until the bad guys started catching on to what the bracelets were.

There was even a specially formulated wipe that could remove the dye, but wouldn't be available for public use. Only the cops and hospitals would be given the wipes to remove the dye and only then after an investigation was made.

Tony had mostly thought it a very neat idea, so he was rather surprised by the _massive_ amount of public support for it, never mind the fact that stores generally sold out of the product within a week of a new shipment. There were several factors that made it very popular.

Jazz had made a "demonstration" version which was loaded with water (that one could be reloaded, but the real thing only had five uses before you had to buy a new one). It showed people how to use the actual item without accidentally macing your friends and could easily be made into a toy for children, since it was more or less an oddly shaped water gun. The demo version was a bright orange color, and was a bit bigger than the real thing which made it easy to distinguish it from the one with the mace and dye. It also didn't have a helpful counter that told the user how many "shots" the item had before you had to get a new one.

Another thing that made it popular was that it was discreet enough that anyone could wear it and there was no chance of accidentally firing it at people. You had to deliberately slip your finger into the loop, pull it up and push it down to release the spray. Sure it was slightly awkward, but it was a wearable version of mace that would be much harder to get off a victim in an attack and you could take anywhere because it was a self-contained unit that was waterproof.

As a special PR move, one that Pepper strongly advised Tony to make since it would make people think a lot better of him, Tony had Stark industries deliver a hundred units of the real things and twenty demo copies with the reload attachments to groups that helped victims of assault and domestic abuse. He also included people who would train those who needed them in how to use them correctly, all for free.

Tony mostly liked the idea because it gave him a lot of access to a bunch of female cops who were strong supporters of the idea and helping other women protect themselves.

* * *

"Are you really that surprised he liked your idea so much?" asked Pepper.

"No one ever credits me with anything good. It was just an idea I had..." said Jazz.

Pepper patted her on the shoulder.

"Well it's a really good one. I know for a fact a lot of women are buying it and it's not just the civilians either. Rhodey said that the military bought a special shipment of a thousand units and a hundred of the demo units once they realized what it was for the female soldiers. If the brass likes it, it might become a standard item for female soldiers. I also know that a lot of cops have been ordering them for their people since it's a lot less bulky compared to the standard mace and allows them to detain people without harm."

Jazz looked at her in shock.

"What?! But it was just a small idea!"

"One that was highly marketable and has an open demand for it. The fact we can also sell the counter agent to hospitals and police departments as a separate item only available to authorized agents means that we can make even more money from it. I know for a fact that Tony has said if you had any other good ideas he would be happy to try them out. He's always looking for fresh blood for the R and D department," said Pepper simply. She looked at the confused shock on the girl's face. "You didn't know about his standing policy to give new inventors twenty-five percent of the profits if the idea goes above a certain profit margin?"

Jazz looked at her in shock.

"Twenty-five?" she said weakly.

"Tony likes to reward good ideas, and twenty-five percent of an idea that we can make a lot of money off of is enough incentive for people to come up with really good ones. It also encourages them to keep making new ideas that help the business expand. You don't want to live off your trust fund forever, do you?"

Jazz was still in shock Tony liked her idea that much. Never mind the amount of money she would be getting from the sales...not that she actually _cared_ about the money, but still.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony had to admit, he loved Pepper's new "duckling" as he called her. Which usually got an annoyed scowl from Jazz, but it was cute so he ignored it.

Jazz had long since moved past "intern" to "Pepper 2.0" in the eyes of everyone else. She had a special touch when it came to getting him to do the boring stuff so he had time to do the fun stuff.

And her little ideas! Tony could dance with glee at some of the unique, and very profitable ideas she kept coming up with in her spare time. Giving her that tablet and pen was a brilliant move and he could literally watch her spend the day away by messing around with the products they had available and improving it.

Jazz kept far, far away from the weapons department and went straight for the "personal defense" line of thinking. Rhodey only took _one_ look at some of the things she kept messing around with before looking quite eager about delivering them to his bosses.

For a civilian, Jazz knew quite a bit about a soldier's mentality. More than a few of the ideas looked like they would do a lot towards keeping soldier's safe at a cost effective way that would make the skinflints in the military accounting department happy.

Things like an ultra-sonic emitter that would detonate IED's with enough distance that the most soldiers would get from the explosion would be a minor bump on the head. It could be retrofitted to attach to the front of the standard convoys and once it was active it would set off a sound that was inaudible to human hearing. Sure, it would drive dogs and other animals nuts, but the safety of the soldiers inside those cars was more than worth it.

Even if it meant limiting the amount of K-9 units in the convoys, that was a small price to pay.

Another idea she had was new armor plating for the vehicles, especially for the bottom. One that could handle an IED blast without compromising the engines or making it too heavy. That one she was still having trouble with, but the fact she even consider that was enough to have Rhodey's respect.

Tony, once he figured out what she was making, had taken the concept and was fiddling around with the subsonic device for the vehicles as a way to get the government contract over with.

Rhodey noticed Jazz trying to bring up coffee for everyone, especially Tony. He pushed the elevator button for her.

"Thanks."

"You're the duckling Tony mentioned. The one who came up with that special mace," said Rhodey.

"Why does he keep calling me a duck? Why couldn't it be something dignified like a falcon or an owl?" scowled Jazz.

Rhodey grinned at that.

"So why did you go into making items for soldiers?" he asked, because that had been bugging him for a while now.

A civilian teenager shouldn't be able to understand that sort of mentality so easily.

"If anyone can understand the thought process of a soldier against an enemy that has a terrian advantage, it's me," she said quietly. She left the elevator and started handing out the coffee.

Rhodey blinked and stared at her a bit. He sensed a major story behind that, one that he suspected no one would like.

Jazz turned slightly to hand Pepper her coffee, and the light hit her in a way that had Rhodey blink.

For a split second there he thought he was looking at a teenage, female version of Tony with red highlights on the tips of her hair and green eyes.

Weird.

Rhodey had no idea that odd little comparison would haunt him for weeks and lead to a rather shocking revelation for everyone... except perhaps Jazz.

* * *

"So I heard _someone_ is about to graduate high school a full two years early," grinned Tony.

It wasn't that hard, but Jazz had a bit of a late start from what he could tell and still had trouble with some of her subjects. However she still had to sit the tests in an _actual_ school before she got her diploma.

Tony kept giving her ideas, and even Pepper had a few suggestions, but she had her mind set on a specific one in upstate New York. The headmaster there had agreed to let her sit in with his own students, after a brief meeting with her.

Jazz wondered how Tony or Pepper would react if they knew she had deliberately picked Xavier's School for the Gifted to sit her high school exams because of the fact that the main bulk of the student body was full of mutants.

At least she wouldn't have to sit in a cramped plane seat. She had thoroughly gotten on Tony's good side with her ideas and suggestions so he was letting her borrow his personal jet for a few days.

"It'll be good to be done with those silly classes. I kept getting headaches," said Jazz.

Tony had noticed she squinted a lot, before he swiped her glasses. They were rather outdated and clearly an old pair.

"When was the last time you had your eyes checked?"

"...I honestly have no idea."

Tony was appalled. Even he knew prescriptions changed all the time, so without any warning at all he enlisted the aid of Pepper to insure she had the right one.

The eye doctor was beyond furious when he found out she had been wearing the wrong prescription strength for years.

As it was she had to make due with contacts (they had her prescription in stock) until her new glasses were delivered to the office. She had the worst habit of forgetting to pick up her mail at the post office box, being so used to owl mail.

 _A week later..._

Xavier's School was interesting. Though the students only really warmed up to her when she heard Hank quoting Shakespeare and she couldn't resist throwing out a personal favorite of her own.

" _'If we shadows have offended_

 _Think but this, and all is mended_

 _That you have but slumber'd here_

 _While these visions did appear._

 _And this weak and idle theme,_

 _No more yielding but a dream,_

 _Gentles, do not reprehend;_

 _If you pardon, we will mend._

 _And, as I am an honest Puck,_

 _If we have unearned luck_

 _Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,_

 _We will make amends ere long;_

 _Else the Puck a liar call:_

 _So, good night unto you all._

 _Give me your hands, if we be friends,_

 _And Robin shall restore amends.'"_

("A Midsummer Night's Dream" if you haven't guessed what it is.)

Dead silence. Hank looked at her with open respect.

"It has been far too long since I heard someone quote that particular play correctly, rather than just the partial that everyone knows. And with the proper accent to boot," he said approvingly.

"What can I say, as a Brit I do love the bard's work. Though I wish he wasn't so fixated on the evils of witches," said Jazz grinning. She held out her hand, "Jazz Evans."

"Dr. Hank McCoy," he said, rather pleased she shook it without any thought or expression of disgust. "You're the one Charles said was coming for the tests, correct?"

She nodded.

"Follow me, I know where the room is. We've been expecting you with great interest," said Hank.

Jazz noted, but did not indicate her amusement, at the shock everyone had on their faces. They knew she wasn't a mutant like them, but she had treated anyone who spoke to her like a fellow human being.

It was a major change of pace for those who's mutation was a bit more obvious than most.

Jazz went in, nodded in thanks to Hank, and sat down to take the tests. For the next few hours, outside of the breaks, she didn't leave the room.

She was just glad it was over with.

But the second she stepped out the door, the first person she nearly bumped into was Dr. Jean Gray.

Her reaction could be excused mostly for the fact that she had an exhausting day and that Jean had a very _strong_ resemblance to the few pictures she had of her mother.

She fainted.

* * *

 _In the infirmary..._

"Any idea what caused that?" asked Hank frowning.

"I believe it was seeing Jean," said Scott.

Jean had been most upset when the girl fainted in front of her, a look of complete shock on her face.

Xavier came in with a frown upon his face.

"Her shields are nonexistent. I hear everything she was thinking since she came into range. Apparently Jean bears a strong resemblance to her dead mother, hence why she fainted."

Scott and Hank winced at that.

"I have such a headache..."

As one, the three mutants turned to her. She had to blink at the surroundings before she face palmed.

"Please tell me I didn't embarrass myself by _fainting_ in front of a woman who could have been a dead ringer for my mum."

"Alas, young lady, you did," said Hank with humor.

"Terrific," said Jazz annoyed. Then she noticed the unusually serious look on the Professor's face. "Please tell me I didn't offend the majority of the students by fainting upon seeing that woman."

"Actually by this point most of the students have decided to treat you as just another mutant. The fact you shook Hank's hand without hesitation warmed them up to you considerably, and I explained to them why you fainted in the first place. Seeing someone who bears a resemblance to a dead loved one is and fainting is a rather normal reaction, one they can emphathize with," said Xavier.

Jazz paused and looked at him hard.

"How exactly did you know I fainted because she looked like my mother?" she asked slowly.

"I'm a telepath."

Jazz groaned in dismay.

"Which means you've likely heard every thought in my head since I got here."

Xavier didn't say anything, but it was clear she had guessed correctly.

She inwardly cursed Snape and those damn Occulmency lessons she was forced to take.

"I am so sorry if anything you heard offended you," she said finally. She had nothing against telepaths...but she still loathed Snape and Dumbledore for multiple reasons. Knowing they used her own thoughts against her was just another straw on an already broken camel's back.

"Ms. Evans, if anything you've shown my students and staff far more compassion and empathy than most have upon meeting them. Not once have you even entertained a single thought of disgust at the more obvious mutations, only polite curiosity. It was rather refreshing," said Xavier.

"I've lived with enough bigotry and discrimation to last an entire lifetime. Mutants aren't monsters...they're just people with rather odd genetic quirks. It's about as ridiculous as hating someone for being born with dark skin instead of fair," said Jazz flatly.

Xavier looked rather pleased to hear that, especially from someone who he knew for a fact didn't carry the mutant gene in the first place.

"There's one thing I don't get," said Jazz.

"What's that?" asked Hank.

"If mutants want to have equal rights with everyone else, then why aren't they going about it like every _other_ minoritygroup has in the past?" she asked.

Stunned silence.

"What do you mean?" asked Xavier, intrigued.

"Well aren't there mutants from already established minority groups like the Indians or African Americans?"

"Several," confirmed Xavier.

"So why haven't you banded together as a minority group and started a protest against unfair treatment the same way Martin Luther King did? Generally speaking the things politicians hate more than scandals are when large groups of voters band together to demand fair treatment like everyone else. It's one thing to ignore sympathizers who don't really do anything...it's another matter entirely ignoring registered voters who are perfectly capable of removing them from power by voting in someone more sympathetic."

Xavier had to admit, he had never thought about it that way.

"What would you suggest?" he asked honestly.

"Start going around colleges and other areas where people who 'disparage' the way the government works but don't actually like doing the work for it. People who would happily sign petitions without reading them just to make themselves feel better," said Jazz bluntly. "It would make the politicians _very_ nervous seeing actual names on paper, and gathering bored college students would be easy enough. Even if they don't believe in helping to get equal rights they'd would still join in on the protest to make themselves feel important. To quote a certain movie, 'People shouldn't be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of the people.'"

Xavier had to admit, the idea had merit.

"Governments won't listen to a calm voice, but having a much stronger united front, even if they don't actually mean it, would get far more attention," said Xavier.

"You could also point out that ridiculous bill Senator Kelly is trying to push through is not only anti-American, but discriminates against a minority group...which last I checked was illegal in the first place. Never mind the fact that it bears a very _strong_ resemblance to what Hitler and the Nazi party pulled on the Jews shortly before they started sending people into camps."

Xavier had the feeling Magneto would get along with this young lady rather well, lack of mutant gene or not. He had made a similar argument when he first heard about the bill.

"How is the Registration act anti-American?" asked Scott.

"Last I checked, the Declaration of Independance and the Constitition made absolutely _no_ references to impeding the rights of mutants. What's the ratio of mutants to normal humans in the States?" asked Jazz cheekily.

"Well within the range of a minority group," said Xavier. "And that's not bringing into the fact that some of them are already part of one."

"Which means the good senator is not only a racist, but Anti-American. That should be more than enough to derail that bill and any others like if you spin it correctly, never mind the fact it would open up a way for mutants to get equal rights without having to resort to less savory methods."

Xavier was already plotting. He had never considered that angle, and he had to admit her idea was sound. At the very least it might help to nip some of Magneto's own plans in the bud without causing violence.

On an unrelated note, Hank and Xavier got a new pen pal in the form of a sixteen year old witch.

Jazz wasn't sure whether to hex them both silly for sending Stephen Strange her way (to complete her magical education) or to thank them.

She settled for them both turning into canaries for a week. The students were all very amused once they realized it would wear off.


	3. Chapter 3

Pepper felt like she was going crazy. Fortunately it wasn't just her. Rhodey saw it too, but it had taken him a bit to admit it.

Jazz had managed to seamlessly join Tony's circle of 'close associates' without setting off any of the usual red flags.

She wasn't after his money...Tony had checked and outside of paying normal bills the girl almost never spent any of the cash she made with the patents he had helped her to acquire.

She honestly didn't care about his fame...she was one of the few people who treated Tony as a person, rather than someone who was famous. If anything, she seemed to dislike it and went out of her way to avoid attraction attention, which Tony seemed to thrive in. She had a very distinct dislike of reporters, as they had found out.

(Tony would never again try to drag Jazz into the limelight after the three hours he spent glued to the toilet with some rather impressive diarrhea and a lack of any decent toilet paper.)

She wasn't after his inventions. She had enough trouble with her tablet or her laptop whenever they crashed, never mind the phone when Tony got back at her for the prank she played on him.

Jazz had given up trying to figure out what was wrong with it and had happily gone old school, to Tony's annoyance. Unlike most teenagers she wasn't that dependent on her phone and had somehow found a way to throw paper airplanes far enough to reach the recipient with whatever message needed to be sent.

He was still trying to figure out how she pulled that one off. The aerodynamics alone should have kept the plane from traveling as far as it needed to go!

Jazz had been there for nine months, and to be honest Pepper and Rhodey kept seeing her as a younger, female version of Tony. Just with a far more down to earth attitude and mischievous personality.

Which was why Rhodey had a plan. For some reason Jazz resembled Tony in a very strong way and they wanted to confirm whether or not the two were related.

If they were, Tony was certainly going to be thrilled. He didn't really have much family to speak of, so if she turned out to be a cousin he would be over the moon. If not, they were just going to chalk up the similarities as a really weird coincidence and leave it at that.

When Jazz tossed her disposable cup (which had Chai tea, despite Tony's attempts at converting her to the wonders of coffee, the heathen) Rhodey collected it as a DNA sample and then sent it off to the lab.

He sent out a private order for it to be compared to the other samples they had on file...one of which happened to be Tony's in case they needed to identify his body. He was, after all, a _very_ important weapon's developer to the government.

For three days, the two made no indication of the fact they had swiped Jazz's cup for a DNA sample.

Then Rhodey came to Pepper on the fourth with a piece of paper and a very odd look on his face.

"What?"

"There was a partial match," he said.

"So she is his cousin," said Pepper relieved. She wasn't going crazy after all.

"Not exactly," said Rhodey slowly.

Pepper blinked. Then her face went owlish in shock.

"You can't be serious."

Rhodey handed her the paper.

There was an almost 49 percent match to Tony's own profile. Pepper sat down hard in shock.

"She's his _daughter_?!"

"Who's daughter?" asked Tony, having overheard Pepper's rather odd tone of voice.

He noticed the looks Rhodey and Pepper were giving him, almost as if they had no idea how to break this particular bit of news.

Tony tried to diffuse the situation with his usual brand of humor.

"So who are we going to congratulate for being an unexpected parent?" he joked.

Pepper and Rhodey shared a look.

"Tony, you might want to sit down," said Rhodey carefully.

Tony looked at them both.

"Seriously, what's going on?"

Pepper sighed and just decided to bite this particular bullet, if only to get it out.

"Tony, you have a daughter."

Tony stared at her, before laughing.

"Are you kidding me? I would think I'd know if I had a kid by now," he laughed.

"Tony, we're serious," said Rhodey.

"So what, did one of my ex's come forward with a kid claiming it was mine again?" asked Tony, not believing it for a second.

"Not exactly," said Pepper.

The door opened to reveal Jazz, carrying take-out as normal along with the usual drinks.

She was about to start handing them out when she noticed the odd atmosphere.

"...What's going on?"

"A few days ago I took one of your disposable cups and had it tested against the DNA databank the military keeps. It came up with a partial match too big to be a distant relation," said Rhodey. "Tony's your father."

Jazz relaxed.

"Oh, is that all. I thought I was about to get fired or something."

"'Is that all'?" said Pepper incredulous. She stared at Jazz. "You already knew, didn't you?"

"I _suspected_ he might be my father after I read one of my mother's journals I found. She mentioned there was some trouble having me registered as the family heir after I was born, though she never specified why. The only thing she did say was that there was a possibility some bloke she ran into at a bar after a loud fight with my father might have been the one to get her knocked up instead of him, but she had no idea whether or not this 'Anthony' guy might be my biological dad," said Jazz shrugging. "Took me a bit of digging to narrow down who she might have meant, and was the main reason I applied to Stark Industries rather than somewhere else. I just didn't feel the need to bring it up."

More like she took an inheritance potion third year and had been very surprised to learn her father's name was Anthony Stark, not James Potter. Apparently the _only_ reason she hadn't had her inheritance stripped from her then and there was because James had done a blood adoption ritual to make her his daughter...at least until Lily could give birth to a legitimate heir. Unfortunately they died before that could happen, meaning the titles and family magicks defaulted back to her anyway.

Sirius, when he found out about the news had made her his heir regardless to piss off a large number of people, even if she wasn't James' biological daughter. He had been the only one who knew, since it was an internal matter.

Remus and Peter were firmly kept out of _that_ discussion, a fact she was very grateful for now.

Tony looked at them all in disbelief, shock...and a small amount of hope that this wasn't some cruel joke.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" he asked finally.

Jazz gave them all a flat look.

"Let me think, how would any of you react to the possibility that I was Tony's daughter? At the very least Obie or even Pepper would have accused me of being after his assets, his fame or possibly his inventions through a dubious blood connection. At the most finding out you might be my father only influenced what company I applied to. I wasn't going to actually bring it up since I didn't want to deal with the suspicion I was only in it for the money or the glory," she said bluntly.

Pepper winced at that. As Tony's PA, she _would_ have been very suspicious about anyone showing up and claiming Tony was their father or close relative. At the very least she would have regarded Jazz with no little amount of suspicion and would have kept a close eye on her to find out what her motives were for showing up like this, if only to protect Tony.

Especially if her claim was true.

"What did your mother have to say about all this?" asked Rhodey.

"I wouldn't know what my parents would have had to say about it. They've been dead since before I turned two. And if my aunt had known she _would_ have tried to exploit the potential connection to him in order to get money. I know for a fact she would have drained my trust account dry the first chance she had if she had access to it, and would have never spent a single pound on it for my sake," said Jazz bluntly.

Seeing the looks on their faces, Jazz had a tired smile on hers.

"I've long since come to terms with their deaths. It's hard to feel sad about people you never got a chance to know," she explained.

She could tell from his expression that Tony had open hopes that this wasn't some sort of sick joke. That he had actual _family_ that he could legitimately call his own, someone who had already proven to have a scarily similar mindset to him that he could share things with.

She had a similar one on her face when she found out she might have a living parent, at least until she thought things through and reality came crashing down around her. The _only_ reason she had taken a chance and come to America in order to get a job at Stark Industries was because it was the only option available to her in order to escape.

If she wanted an out of the war they were trying to drag her into, she needed an excuse the idiots wouldn't be able to easily tear apart.

Since there was no way Tony was leaving something like this to chance, Jazz easily handed over a cleaner sample of her DNA to test against his. He used three different agencies without telling them who it was for or letting anyone know which ones.

And they all came back with the same results. Jasmine Evans, aka Jazz, was Tony's biological daughter.

It was a massive shock to the billioniare weapons designer.

He had a daughter, one who had been working for him for a little over ten months...and she hadn't said a thing about it. She had suspected it, but unlike many in the past, she had kept her silence and did the job she was paid for.

Jazz was like none of the other parasites that had tried to attach themselves to his name. People like that were a dime a dozen and they cropped up often.

She simply didn't care about the fame, money or any of it. The apartment she owned was well kept, modest and well within the means of a 'trust fund baby' trying to earn their own way out of their parent's shadows.

Then again what the PI Tony had hired to investigate Petunia Dursley had been an eye opener...and not in a good way.

Petunia was a spiteful, vicious woman who apparently had a major grudge against her dead sister. One that carried over to her daughter. The woman had no idea that the PI had found the 'cupboard' Jazz had briefly mentioned, or the pictures they had sent back to their client. It had taken everything in the woman's power not to call the police.

And her son... "Dudley" was a real piece of work. There were thugs with more brains than that boy, and it was clear he'd die of a heart attack or some other obesity related disease sooner rather than later.

It was no wonder Jazz didn't like talking about her aunt or why she left England, if she was forced to live with those people.

Now the question remained...exactly how was Tony supposed to deal with his newly discovered daughter, who was far more "mature" than he ever was at that age and was already very independent?

* * *

Tony had to admit, Jazz was one of the most paranoid girls he had ever met. But from what little they had been able to get out of her for why she left England, she had every reason to be.

The lawyers had certainly been impressed with the way she handled things.

She would give them far less work than having to clean up after one of Tony's "messes", as Pepper called them.

Pepper, however, was looking at the stocks for the company with a frown when it was over.

"That's odd."

"What is?" asked Tony. He had a headache...and why on earth did Jazz speak Latin of all things that fluently? It was a dead language!

"Someone has been buying up stocks left and right," she replied. "So far there's at least five percent of available stocks in the hands of one person."

Tony blinked. While that might not sound like a lot, the amount of money needed to buy five percent was pretty large. Especially at the current price.

"Well if the price dips any lower, it would go up to at least ten percent or higher," Jazz said without thinking, while messing around on her tablet.

Tony and Pepper looked at her. She blinked and realized her mistake.

"Some people would call stock trading an investment. I prefer to have a security blanket that isn't dependent on an inheritance. And nothing gets the corperate fat cats to listen to you like having a decent controlling stake in the company that isn't dependent on the percentages inherited from a parent."

Tony had to grin.

"Smart move. An inherited percentage can be taken away by the board if they're smart enough to word it right, but stocks bought with your own money is another story entirely," said Tony. It was sneaky and underhanded and something he should have looked into himself, if he cared about that sort of thing.

Jazz had a smirk on her face.

"I don't trust people who work with large amounts of money. Especially at the level you tend to play with. Better to have something you can hold over their head that they can't touch than to allow them even a chance to control you."

Pepper frowned.

"Is that why you're keeping your mother's maiden name and not announcing the fact you're Tony's daughter?"

Jazz looked at Pepper seriously.

"My parents were killed by a traitor, and nothing upsets plans of a hostile takeover from a greedy snake like an heir showing up who can prove that they legitimately have a claim on the money they're trying to get their claws on. _Especially_ if the previous boss was already aware of that heir and put in contingencies that the snakes weren't aware of naming them the new head of the company," said Jazz flatly. "I've noticed a few oddities in the tech department and the money flow, but I haven't been able to figure out who's responsible. Whoever it is, they're high up enough to cover their tracks."

That got Tony and Pepper's attention. Despite her youth, Jazz was extremely observant and suitably paranoid. It was entirely possible she had found a traitor in their midst that they missed because they were too close to them.


	4. Chapter 4

**ProfessorX-** I simply must thank you for the suggestion you made regarding that bill. It never occurred to us to have mutants declared a legitimate minority group.

 **JazzOwl-** I have found that the older you get, the harder it is to think of the obvious, especially in those who claim to be wise. At least you had the sense to take advice from someone younger than you who is still capable of seeing the big picture in a much simpler viewpoint. I can think of one old man who went positively senile and developed a rather unfortunate king complex who did an untold amount of damage.

 **ProfessorX-** Dumbledore was a foolish man. Putting that much pressure on a single child without giving them adequate reason to _want_ to save the magical enclaves was a rather poor move. He should have known it would backfire on him.

 **JazzOwl-** Strange tell you?

 **ProfessorX-** He clarified what I already picked up from your visit. He was most astonished when I accidentally revealed your identity, but agreed not to mention it. However he recommends you at least alert the MACUSA before you reveal your full heritage besides that of being Tony's only child and heir.

 **JazzOwl-** a pity I can't bring you into Stark Industries. I suspect Obie is up to something unpleasant in order to get rid of my birth father and take over the place, but I have no proof it's him. Though if he is, he's going to be in for a nasty surprise when the truth comes out.

 **ProfessorX-** I could always arrange a special trip for mutants with engineering skills that Jean could supervise.

 **JazzOwl-** Unfortunately there's no way I can arrange that just yet, but I can alert you to the next time Tony plans on doing an 'open house' for new blood in the R and D department. Which would be in three months at the earliest. I would rather cut off any plans that man has for him, but I'm not going to tip my hand just yet.

Jazz was still surprised Strange had allowed her to keep the "sling ring" as he called it, despite the fact she wasn't a follower of that particular group.

Then again, the leader of the order had properly interviewed her and as long as she didn't abuse the powers she was free to study with them as long as she liked. Unlike some, she had a proper respect for power and for life...she had easier ways to deal with people if they deserved to die.

At least now she was registered as a full _adult_ witch, even if the MACUSA had no idea that the "Girl Who Lived" was currently living in the States under her mother's maiden name.

Wizards, honestly.

* * *

Jazz looked at Tony's Malibu home with distaste. Sure, the view was great but the fact she usually came here with Pepper to get rid of the 'trash', as the older woman called Tony's latest conquests, put something of a damper on it.

After learning he had a daughter, Tony was at least _trying_ to reign in his bad habits.

She didn't have the heart to give him a better picture of what her life had been like before she came to America. Honestly, it wasn't like he could do _worse_ than what the Dursleys put her through in her formative years. Never mind the 'stellar' parenting of the magical enclaves. Anyone who thought it perfectly acceptable to drop a child out of a window just to display a bloodline gift wasn't suited to raising children in the first place.

So finding the room Tony had specially made for her in his Malibu home and the fact she now had access to his private lab where he kept the real secret projects was a nice gesture...even if she really didn't feel comfortable staying there.

Considering her upbringing, showing off how rich you were simply didn't appeal to her. None of her neighbors were aware that she was rich enough to buy the entire building she lived in without having to haggle, and she liked it that way. She had to deal with less idiots.

She was, however, going to make her own AI...and insure that the voice was _not_ British like JARVIS. Nothing against the AI Tony had made, but after all the nonsense her own countrymen put her through she could live without having to hear the accent ever again.

Besides, she wanted someone who had no issues with talking back to her or pointing out flaws in her plan. Someone who could lock her out when she was being completely unreasonable.

In an effort to connect with Tony (she had a lot of issues calling him "Dad" when she was clearly more mature than he was), she opted to ask him for advice on how to make her own AI that would work in almost the same function as JARVIS did.

Tony took to the idea with great joy. After all, it _was_ a project he knew he could help Jazz with _and_ doubled as a great way to bond with her. He was more than happy to sieze on any chance to get to know his newly discovered progeny.

He really didn't want to be anything like his own father Howard.

It was strange, having a parent that at least tried to care without being too smothering. Tony was more of a child in many respects, and he had no idea how to go about being a 'responsible parent'.

Jazz was too emotionally jaded to allow much parenting in any case. She had a firm grasp on reality, and found it rather amusing that _she_ was the adult one who brought Tony back down to earth when he got out of hand.

However there was one thing she did highly disagree with her father about, and that was the old business partner that he allowed so much leeway with, Obadiah Stane.

Something about him gave her a bad feeling and she didn't want him knowing about her at all.

At most she was an amusing "assistant" to Pepper.

Tony didn't want to push it, mainly because he was still afraid he'd drive the only family he had left off. She hadn't exactly filled him in on the full reason she left England, or why it was too dangerous for her to return.

She still had yet to tell him the truth about magic, because she was worried he might reject her.

It took them a full month and dodging Stane who was wonder what sort of "pet project" would hold Tony's interest for so long and not have any visible results, but eventually Jazz had her own personal AI loaded onto the same servers as JARVIS.

She called it Nyx, after the female personification of Night in Greek mythology. Considering that particular goddess was also the daughter of Chaos, she felt it quite fitting.

"Nyx, I want you to go through all the personal devices of the Board of Directors. I want anything I can get to throw them out and what trails to follow to make it look legal later, with particular emphasis on Stane. Can you do that for me?" asked Jazz when she was alone in her apartment.

Nyx was a seperate entity from JARVIS, and while they were operating on the same server, the programming was different enough that any traps set to watch for the original AI weren't as likely to catch her.

Especially since Jazz had tweaked Nyx using something Tony didn't know about...Technomancy. Dr. Strange had been very nice to introduce her to some young mages who had found out a way to integrate magic and technology... making an AI a living, breathing entity on the web was entirely within the range of what they could do and they were more than thrilled to help her.

Besides, most of them were Digimon and Pokémon fanatics and if they could make a living AI, then it was one step closer to recreating Digimon or even just the Porygon trio.

(They were all appalled that she had never played the games and barely knew what Pikachu was. She was quite happily decimating gyms now and playing catch up with the rest of her age group.)

Nyx gave her a salute, and went about digging into the Board of Directors discreetly. As a living AI, she could bypass firewalls with no trouble at all.

And what she found on Stane was pretty much the motherload.

However she couldn't just bring this to Tony. He would want to know why, and Stane was one of the oldest, most trusted employees on the Board.

The others were easy to dispatch...some of the things she found on file were 'leaked' anonymously to the same reporters who loved to print about Tony's bad habits, along with a note on where to look and who to ask pointed questions.

Within a week those fools were easily fired and disposed of.

Stane though... Stane had become her own personal project.

The man was old, but unlike Dumbledore wasn't senile. He had to have a few tricks up his sleeve and she would need to find out what to expect before confronting him and taking him out.

There was one particular piece that had her rather worried. A device that could induce paralysis without any warning at all from certain frequency waves. There had been a few prototypes but not all of them had been accounted for.

There was also the 'counter' device which allowed one to avoid the paralysis that was missing.

Stane had been one of the people on the project before it was scraped. It was entirely possible he had kept a prototype and the counter device for his own personal use. It wasn't like Tony kept track of all the projects in development, and this sort of thing would have interested him.

Jazz was already modifying the known counter device...if she did it right, she could modify the signal that blocked the frequency to work on a regular hands-free device or over speakers.

Or she could just ward a room to resist allowing a short EMP burst from affecting the rest of the building. It couldn't be that hard.

* * *

It was a pity Stane was out on 'other business', which she suspected was illegal anyway. She could have gotten quite the show from her little trick.

Runes was such a fascinating subject, and this bit of magic was so small there was no way anyone could mistake it for "muggle-baiting".

Just a little prank to keep everyone honest.

She had given Tony the counter runes the night before, not that he was aware of it, thus he wouldn't feel compelled to mention that he had a daughter.

Jazz watched the entire show with great glee, while happily recording everything.

Pepper was beyond horrified...they would be dealing with the press for _weeks_ , if not months.

Stane, when he returned, was not pleased. A lot of those same board members were people he would have easily convinced to hand over the reigns to _him_ if anything happened to Tony.

He would have to start all over from scratch, and the few who remained were more terrified of their own misdeeds coming to light and getting fired as well.

She had the sneaking suspicion Rhodey either knew about magic or had it himself. It would explain why he spotted the runes so fast, even if he didn't say a word about it.

She wasn't surprised in the least when the runes were discreetly removed or damaged in a way that only the ones that put them there would notice.

Tony was not happy, and was calling for full background checks on all the high ranking employees. Stane, who wasn't a fool, was quick to bury his illegal side business the second Tony even mentioned it.

She would let him dig a nice, deep grave. Last she checked selling weapons to terrorists was a federal offense that came with mandatory jail time if caught. Especially those that were an active threat to Americans serving in the armed forces.

If he went down, he would go do so hard and fast there would be absolutely no chance of recovery. She wanted to limit the damage done to Tony's trust if possible.

Jazz had a bad feeling about the "Jericho" missile from the start. She hated the fact Tony was developing weapons, but he had a hard enough time switching to a less damaging mind set when it came to creating new toys.

She was just lucky the Americans liked her more defensive line enough to actually _buy_ them and complete part of the government contract they had with Stark Industries.

That bad feeling ramped up to eleven the _second_ Tony mentions demonstrating it in front of the government big wigs in Afganistan.

At the "suggestion" of Stane of course.

Tony would never pass up a chance to show off how smart he was, and took the bait easily. Jazz mentally started going over plans in case they had to up the schedule when it came to revealing the fact she was Tony's daughter.

The MACUSA was more than happy to push through her emancipation, since she was already a legal adult anyway and she just had a year left before she was considered one in the "normal" world. Besides, she had a stable job, kept her bills paid and had already graduated high school, even if she didn't bother owning a car.

She was one of the most self-sufficient teenagers around, and it was more of a formality at this point.

It didn't hurt that as a "legal adult" she could happily tell the English bastards where to shove their damn wands and they couldn't do a thing about it. She had already moved her inheritance from her adopted father and godfather to America, and the rest of it was locked down under a blood seal, meaning the Ministry couldn't touch it even if they tried. And they would, once the truth came out.

It was nice having an actual say on her freedom, and the fact that her father was really a muggle who had slept with her mother when they were both quite drunk meant that quite a few of the 'pure bloods' would be rather loath to touch her at all. Just the way she liked it.

Besides, with how out of date those idiots were, having them arrested...with their wands snapped of course, along with any other magical items confiscated or discreetly removed... and deported back to England in the most unpleasant way possible in order to give the mundane English government time to give those idiots a taste of their own medicine by throwing the out of date fools into sanitariums, prisons or create a case to remove their titles and peerages would be far too much fun!

She suspected that the Queen certainly wouldn't mind someone giving the spoiled English enclaves an unpleasant reminder of how reality worked. Especially with the nonsense she had to put up with because of Dumbledore's inaction and Riddle's madness in going after the normal folks.

* * *

She was just finishing up some design ideas when she felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if something had gone terribly wrong.

Without a second thought, she called Rhodey and asked where Tony was.

In spite of herself, she had grown somewhat close to the glorified man-child, Pepper and Rhodey.

She knew Pepper was safe, as she was in the office next to her. Rhodey and Tony, however, were still in an active warzone.

It took him twenty long minutes to get back to her, but when he did he had news that made the pit of her stomach drop.

" _Tony's convoy was hit. Whoever did it planned for the device you made to deal with IED's before they could do any real damage, because they used a few of the older Stark missiles. Tony's missing and most of the soldiers were killed, especially those in the humvee he was traveling in."_

The Anti-IED device she made (that Tony helped to make reality) didn't have an official name, but the response from the soldiers when they found out _exactly_ what it did and how many lives it could save had been enormous.

More than a few of them had said disparaging things about Tony because of his toys and how easily they could be used against American soldiers.

Now they were singing the praises of Stark Tech because it had saved their hides from an ambush, even if it meant having to get extra training so they knew how to operate the device correctly and drove the K-9 units completely bonkers when active.

The higher ups were eagerly anticipating the portable version...it wouldn't replace the K-9 units or the bonds they had, but it would be a decent substitute since it took a long time to train that sort of partnership.

Jazz sat down hard, as Pepper seemed to sense something bad had happened.

"What's going on?"

"Tony's convoy was hit. Have they found a body?" asked Jazz.

" _No. And we checked thoroughly. But...there was a void where the missile hit, so it's possible he's heavily injured."_

"If there isn't a body, then there's a chance that whomever has him will try to keep him alive for as long as possible to make better weapons. Or as a hostage for a large sum of money to buy them. I think making weapons is more likely though... far more cost efficient and less likely to get them caught as easily as a ransom demand would be," said Jazz, mind already racing.

Rhodey had an odd expression on his face.

" _That idea has been thrown around a bit. And we are keeping track of anyone who might be taken captive with the skills to heal the sort of wounds a close hit would cause. So far it's come up empty."_

"Not if they already kidnapped or captured a doctor beforehand, just in case. I can think of plenty of reasons to do so for a terrorist group, and not just to keep captives alive while they're trying to break their spirits through torture."

Hearing Pepper's horrified gasp, Jazz winced. Perhaps she was a little blunt on the knowledge that Tony would almost certainly be tortured before he was rescued, if only because he was a smart ass of the highest order.

Then again, she had to live with the knowledge she would be forced into a small scale civil war by the very adults who should have been protecting the children, rather than display a very disturbing impression of an ostrich and hoping the problem would go away.

She was quite jaded in that respect.


	5. Chapter 5

It was somewhat awkward, having to deal with the looks Rhodey kept giving her when he realized she had a far better grasp on how bad the situation Tony was in than Pepper did herself.

Jazz was under no illusions. Any chance of developing rose-tinted glasses about how the world worked had been taken from her long before she ever had a chance to be a child.

She knew Tony would be tortured and quite likely forced to build weapons like the Jericho missile so it could be used against American forces, or he would be killed. Since no ransom demands had been made, it was the only scenario that made the most sense about why they couldn't find his body with the rest.

Pepper was a civilian, but she had also grown up with a relatively normal childhood. She took it badly finding out what was being done to her boss...especially with how calm Jazz was about the whole thing.

Then again Jazz knew that as long as Tony could pretend he was complying with their demands, he would be alive and therefor rescue was an option.

She had endured a curse that literally fried nerve endings all at once and would drive people catatonic, and she had come out more or less intact. Tony would need help from someone who knew better than most what being tortured was like, not some overpaid therapist.

He wouldn't be the same man he was before, but perhaps once they got him back he would learn to grow up a little bit.

Rhodey stuck around, rather than leave as he normally did.

Jazz didn't need to know why. Her reaction to the news Tony was in the hands of terrorists and what they would likely do to him did not fit the profile of a civilian, no matter how one looked at it.

"You know I'm British, right?"

"I know you spent a lot of time there."

Jazz looked at him flatly, before stating in a blunt voice, "Cut the crap. We both know that I'm from the English enclaves. Did you _really_ think that the nonsense going on over there only started when the old bastard finally died? That hypocrite they have as a dark lord was active _long_ before the 'government' finally had the balls to acknowledge it, and he had a particular interest in me."

Rhodey dropped all pretenses of being ignorant to what, or more specifically _who_ Jazz was.

"You're Jasmine Black," he stated.

"There's a reason I went by Jazz Evans. Knowing them they have a taboo on the name to try and track me down because of some stupid prophecy that anyone with wit could tell was a self-fulfilling one."

Rhodey did not look happy, but there was little he could do about it. Jazz had entered the country legally and she was a US citizen the _second_ it was confirmed Tony was her biological father. She might not have been born in the States, but she did hold a valid dual citizenship. Three, if one were to count the fact her mother was half Irish and hadn't renounced her roots to the country.

What pissed Rhodey off was the fact that he suspected, but didn't dare confirm, that the former "leader of the light" had been deliberately raising Jazz as a child soldier.

Her reaction to the idea of someone close to her being torture was telling enough about her upbringing. She had known from far too young an age that she would be forced into a war, whether she liked it or not, because the adults refused to do anything about it and were relying on her to save their skins again.

It was little wonder she had left the first chance she got.

Rhodey was silent, before he quietly asked... "If we can get him back... can you help him?"

"Who better to help heal a victim of torture from extremists than someone who's had to live under that sort of fear their entire life?" she replied tiredly. "If nothing else this might be able to help my own unresolved PTSD. Though I will say this... I am going to expose who set Tony up to be captured."

"You know who did it."

"I don't have proof, not yet. I have to wait a bit before I can get any and the man is cunning enough to hide his tracks beforehand after the show I put on with the board."

* * *

Jazz was completely and utterly disgusted with Stane. Not even a full two weeks had passed and he was attempting to take over Stark Industries as the senior member of the board. After the complete and utter fiasco that happened when she got rid of the most corrupt members, they really needed to avoid taking another major hit.

Which was why she felt nothing but sweet, vindictive satisfaction when the lawyers came to discuss options since Tony was officially MIA, and presumed captured.

And Tony had called her 'over paranoid' when she insisted they cover _all_ contingencies, such as when he was unavailable and presumed missing. The lawyers had loved her for it, because it meant they had a clear cut protocol they could follow instead of scrambling after the fact to cover their asses legally.

She might have been sorted into the house of the noble and brave, but at her core she was pure Slytherin and she had learned long ago to cover her bases before it came back to bite her in the ass.

Which was why she waited for someone to call her in before hiding a smug look at the furious expression Stane had on his face.

She knew keeping the fact Tony had a daughter from him would be well worth it, if only for that expression.

"I demand a paternity test!" said Stane furious. He definitely hadn't expected this to happen.

"You are free to test against Mr. Stark's own DNA, but I assure you he had them done himself with three very well respected and qualified companies. Ms. Evans is indeed Anthony Stark's biological daughter and more than capable of taking over in his absence until his condition is confirmed," said the lawyer coolly. "The appropriate agencies have also been alerted to her status and she was granted a full US citizenship once it was confirmed."

Along with full diplomatic immunity, since the MACUSA was all too happy to snub the English fools and the normal government had agreed to it once they had the full measure of Jazz's character. She wouldn't abuse it like some teenagers would, and had a very down-to-earth personality.

Besides, giving her that much was a very friendly incentive for her to keep developing new toys to keep soldiers alive, even if she wasn't inclined to make weapons like Tony did.

Stane still went through with it anyway, trying to discredit Jazz's claim on Stark Industries. She could literally see him seething when he found out that she had full control over the company and there was no way he could claim it himself.

Then again, perhaps it had been slightly overkill to reveal she already had a sizeable stake in the company with her own money, and that the shares she inherited with Tony out of commission only gave her a controlling interest. None of the other shareholders or board members had enough clout to deal with her unless they could prove she was doing something illegal, and even then she had enough money to buy her way out with the same top notch lawyer team that kept Tony out of trouble.

Jazz was rather pleased she had finally figured out how to recreate the counter device to the paralysis frequency that she _knew_ Stane had.

She also made very sure that when, not if, Stane tried something because he thought he could use her young age to an advantage that she had back up.

Rhodey had been suitably impressed with the invisibility cloak, and beyond pissed when she proved Stane had been behind Tony's kidnapping in the first place.

Once they proved Stane was colluding with terrorists, particularly the ones that had Tony captive, they could raid his files and hopefully get a trace on where Tony was to rescue him.

Besides, Jazz did not tolerate traitors. She would never forgive Peter for what he had done to her parents and Sirius.

* * *

 _Two weeks later..._

Jazz hated press conferences, but this one was for a good purpose. It had taken a bit of doing, mostly to prove she was in fact just as competent, if not more so than Tony was at running a billion dollar company.

Pepper was right by her side, taking the same role she always had. She knew that Jazz would stop at nothing to retrieve Tony if they had even a clue where he was.

"Good afternoon everyone. I'm sure by this point you've heard the rumors of the fact that Stark Industries has fallen under new management. I am here to put these rumors to rest. My name is Jazz Evans, and I am the current owner of Stark Industries," said Jazz with the best poker face she could manage. "Yes, miss...?"

"Sarah Daniels, _Wall Street Journal_. May I ask why Stark Industries has put a teenager in charge of a billion-dollar company?"

"The simple answer is that Tony Stark's rather loose...habits... have finally come back to roost. I may use my mother's maiden name, but I am the biological daughter of the currently missing Anthony Stark. I'm not ready at this time to take up the Stark name in full just yet, at least until my father's status has been settled once and for all."

That set the niffler in the vaults.

"You claim to be Tony Stark's daughter?" said another journalist, eager for a scoop.

"It was quite a shock for Tony when he found out. I have the test results from three different agencies available for anyone interested. For security reasons, we agreed to keep my status as his daughter quiet, since I wasn't the one to alert Tony to the fact I was his daughter when I was hired as Pepper's 'stand-in'."

"What security reasons?" asked another reporter.

Jazz gave them all a flat look.

"People claim to be related to the rich and famous all the time out of greed or for personal power. Cleaning up after Tony was a headache enough without having to deal with being cast under such a suspicious light."

When she put it like that, it was fairly obvious why she kept her silence.

"What are your plans for Stark Industries?" asked the first reporter.

"Effectively immediately I am downsizing the weapons division of Stark Industries, and putting more emphasis on defensive applications such as body armor, better plating for available vehicles and the Anti-IED devices that have proven so effective at keeping good soldiers alive in the field. I have it on good authority that the convoy that held my father was hit with one of our own missiles, and I refuse to let any more good soldiers die from weapons that should be on their side," she replied flatly.

The uproar at that was particularly loud.

Jazz merely held up a hand, and a small smile came across her face, silencing the noise.

"For too long Stark Industries has held a legacy of death. While we will still be supplying the agreed upon weapons that the government and other legitimate agencies have ordered, we will no longer solely focus on creating new weapons of killing. What we need is better training, not new toys that soldiers have to waste valuable time learning how to use and can easily backfire on them if they input the wrong command. Armor can't be used against good men and women putting their lives on the line, and can even be used locally to help law enforcement keep the peace without risking their own lives."

She could tell she had their respect now. Unlike Tony she displayed a calm, professional attitude. It didn't hurt that people had seen her before with Pepper, displaying a maturity level Tony simply lacked.

Besides, not even the anti-war groups would bitch about them developing better armor for soldiers rather than weapons. Especially if Jazz donated several units of them to local law enforcement to properly cover almost the entire force.

There was no point in giving them upgraded weapons when most cops developed a knack for the ones they had and would likely not use anyway. Body armor, on the other hand, was simple enough that they would embrace it readily so long as putting it on wasn't too complicated.

She already had plans for a cost effective bullet proof face mask that could easily be retrofitted to fit the already available face shields. They would cover a bit more than the ones the cops already had did, but it would take considerably more firepower to take a cop down with a headshot once they were put into production.

They needed to make a lot of good PR for what she was about to do to Stane, never mind the trick she pulled before Tony went missing.

And Jazz had quite a few ideas on how to get the people to like Stark Industries for the _right_ reasons and do a world of good.

It was a pity Pepper had decided to latch onto Jazz in order to cope with the fact that Tony was still missing and likely experiencing something horrifying.

Jazz had never experienced having a proper female role model around, so the fact Pepper kept her from having even a single drink until she was twenty-one was a bit annoying.

Good thing Pepper just thought the expensive chocolates Jazz favored were simply imported brands. If she could read even one of the labels she would have found out that they were all bourbon-laced bon-bons. Those things had enough liquor in them to compensate for not being able to drink proper shots.

If Rhodey knew what they were, he wisely kept his silence on the matter. He didn't want to get hexed by an irate witch after all!

Jazz was relaxing in the massage chair, with the news channels in the background.

As expected, the news Tony Stark had a daughter was the top story, as was the fact that she had downsized the weapons division in favor of a more defensive line.

Pepper came in with a few pizzas, ones that were ordered before they left the reporters behind.

"They're certainly in a tizzy," said Jazz.

"We knew there would be," said Pepper.

"I bet you anything they're going to expect a secondary motive for what I do next."

Jazz knew full well that no one would be as altruistic as she was going to be until Tony was found and Stane arrested. Especially not after inheriting a large sum of money. People were going to investigate, try to find out what her angle was and what dark, dirty secrets she was hiding.

Which was why she was going to give them all the dirt they needed and blow a conspiracy wide open. Petunia was going to experience her own personal brand of hell and it was going to be all her fault.

Payback was a bitch, and Jazz was quite happily going to be the instigator in this particular revenge plot.


	6. Chapter 6

Jazz knew that Stane wouldn't stand for his plan to fall apart so easily, especially with an unknown variable like her at the center of it.

Which was why she was fully prepared for when he tried to dirty her name after the donation of several improved body armor and face masks for the Malibu police department and several other high-crime areas, along with people fully trained to teach the cops how to put the armor on and what the new features were.

Though perhaps sending along a new coffee maker that was easy to use and capable of brewing large amounts of caffeine with all the units she was sending was a bit much. The police weren't complaining though...far from it. Once they realized what was in the mystery box quite a few of them were singing her praises.

Which was why she was fully prepared for him to arrange a discreet meeting late at night. Rhodey was under her invisibility cloak, armed with the counter device and a video camera that would record everything.

Stane was far too predictable. He was reliant on the device to paralyze his victims, and he was too used to dealing with Tony.

He expected to be dealing with a young inexperienced kitten, not a full grown panther all too happy to rip him apart who had been watching from the shadows the entire time.

Rhodey waited patiently for the signal. Jazz went down, pretending to be affected by the frequency. Stane sneered at her, and went to the computer to plant evidence to be found later by reporters who wanted to find dirt on the new head of Stark Industries.

Which was why he never saw the blow to the back of the head coming.

"I fucking hate traitors," said Jazz, resisting the urge to spit on Stane's downed form.

She reached for the phone.

"I want security up here immediately, and someone call the police. We have a traitor in the office," said Jazz coldly.

By the time Stane woke up from the rather nasty concussion Jazz gave him, he was chained to a hospital bed in an isolation room with armed police outside his door.

 _With Jazz_

The local cops were a bit surprised to get the call from Stark Industries, but answered anyway. They sent their senior detectives, mainly because of who had sent the call for back up.

More than a few of the older officers liked the new head of Stark Industries, if for no other reason than she had common sense and was more than happy to make their jobs a bit safer.

"You're saying that a senior member of the company tried to attack you and plant false evidence?" asked Detective Stabler.

"I have security footage to prove it, and the device he used to immobilize me. I would be more than happy to demonstrate what it does and why it's so dangerous. Especially since the traitor had the only _official_ counter device on him and no one even noticed. We've suspected there was a traitor in the company for a while now, which is why I never announced my heritage to the public until it was necessary."

Stabler nodded. It certainly explained the 'security reasons' that the young woman mentioned in the conference.

"What would you like to have done to Mr. Stane?"

"After his unprovoked the assualt on me, I am having all his files seized and every project he was part of gone through with a fine toothed comb. When we discover any evidence of more crimes, I will be sure to file them appropriately with the proper authorities. If your department needs any help putting Stane where he belongs, please let me know. I don't abide by traitors," said Jazz.

Stabler took her statement, the device used to try and paralyze her and left with a rather healthy respect for her. She was sensible and far more respectful to the police than her father ever was.

Jazz was more than pleased when she 'discovered' Stane's part in her father's capture. The second the video was found, the man's fate was sealed...especially when she also 'uncovered' proof he was selling weapons on the side to the same terrorists who attacked the convoy.

Ironically by the time they traced the video's origin to where Tony might be held, it was already too late.

He had managed to make quite a mess breaking out on his own terms.

* * *

Tony was devastated that Obie was the one behind his kidnapping...and worse, had been selling weapons on the side to the same bastards who took him.

He was somewhat happy that Jazz had taken full control of the company and was already mitigating the damage done when she downsized the weapons R and D, but then again he had been fully prepared to cut that department out entirely the second he got home.

Being hit with one of his own weapons had been a major eye opener for him and not in a good way.

"So how was the reception to the news that Jazz is my daughter?"

"A lot of people were skeptical, but most of the people who tried to claim she was lying were shut up by the lab results. She made sure to share those in her first press conference. Obie... Stane... tried to get her kicked out because you hadn't acknowledged her publicly by getting her arrested, but she apparently saw it coming because she knocked him out in your office and called the cops. The second she showed them where to look, he was thrown into federal prison," said Rhodey bluntly.

He may have gotten a bit too used to Jazz's dislike of beating around the bush and just getting to the heart of the matter.

"I'm not talking about that. I meant how have the press handled the news?"

"Well outside of the shock that you have an actual kid who's just as smart as you are, the general consensus is that the public likes her better than they do you."

"What? Why?"

Rhodey shrugged.

"Mostly because she's been using some of the old budget for the weapons division to do a lot of 'good publicity' like opening up rec centers in low income areas and donating better body armor to police in high crime areas where guns are prevalent...and not just in California. It's estimated that within the next two or three months, most if not all of the high-crime areas will have police outfitted with the older generation Stark armor, with new face shielding. People like her because she's rather humanitarian and isn't just dumping a bunch of high-tech toys for the cops to learn how to use and being very fiscally minded when it comes to her contributions."

Tony stared at him.

"Why would she be opening rec centers and donating outdated armor to cops?"

"In her words, it's time that the rich started doing some actual good with the wealth they have. She doesn't bother with parties or half the things you did, but she also doesn't just spend it all on fancy toys to give to people who likely wouldn't use it anyway. Quite a few people are trying to find out what her angle is."

No one was ever _that_ humanitarian when they inherited that much wealth, and considering no one was entirely sure of her background, the press were quite eager to find something they could exploit.

Tony had given them plenty of ammunition over the years.

Once the plane landed, Tony almost wanted to have a press conference...except he still needed time to process everything Rhodey had told him.

Besides, Jazz had already done the main thing he wanted to take care of the second he got home, which was deal with the weapons division.

Granted he would have shut it down entirely, but integrating it with the Defense division of Stark industries was a nice alternative that didn't piss off as many workers.

Considering what little Tony had been able to dig up on Jazz, he was quite surprised that the first thing she did when he walked into his home was an almost painfully tight hug.

He awkwardly hugged back and took a good look at her.

As much as she hated the limelight, he could tell it had been good for her.

"I'm sorry I didn't warn you about Stane sooner," she said quietly, guilt all over her face. "I just didn't think you would actually believe me if I told you he was a traitor, considering how close you were."

She had seen it all too often... if she tried to warn someone about impending danger they would dismiss her or tell her to keep her nose out of 'adult business'. Or they would pretend to look into it, but wouldn't do anything about it.

Just the memory of the mess that happened because McGonagall didn't take their warning seriously about the stone hurt.

Tony winced.

"It would have hurt, finding out he was selling weapons to the bad guys, but I would have at least looked into it. That sort of thing isn't something I would have taken lying down and you already admitted you found a discrepency that bothered you."

Jazz had a decidedly odd look on her face. Was it really _that_ shocking an adult would take the word of a teenager seriously?

* * *

 _Later that night..._

Tony had been stuck in his nightmare of the torture the Ten Rings had put him through when he felt someone shaking him awake.

He found Jazz at his bedside with an empty look on her face. There was no sympathy, no pity, just a general acceptance that she had known without anyone telling her that he would have nightmares.

"Most people would ask if you want to talk about it, but I know the memory is still far too fresh. Instead I'm going to offer you a few options. One, I can stay with you during the night and have JARVIS or Nyx wake me the second your brain starts to register a nightmare slash memory of your time in their hands. Two, I can give you a sleep aid that would allow you to sleep a full eight hours without any dreams at all, at least until you're ready to cope with the trauma. Or three, we can go down to the boxing ring you have downstairs and work out until you're too exhausted to do anything but sleep through the night."

All three options were appealing. Jazz didn't offer an ounce of pity or demand that he relive the experience. Not so soon after he was rescued, and he was grateful for that. Pepper might have tried to get him to see a therapist or something or he could have working on his new suit for hours on end to try and stay awake.

"What sort of sleep aid?"

"It's an herbal remedy I learned in England. Just don't ask what the ingredients are if you're squeamish. I can make enough batches to last you a month, but I would have to monitor your use of it because avoiding the trauma through an overdependence on it is not going to solve the problem. It's legal and far more effective than general sleeping pills," said Jazz without hesitation.

A few low doses of Dreamless Sleep would allow Tony to rest, since she knew perfectly well he was a muggle. However the last thing he needed was to develop a dependence on it.

To be honest, Tony didn't feel comfortable having to rely on his daughter to wake him up out of a nightmare, even if she understood without words what he was going through. And he was still too sore to fight it out in the rink downstairs, never mind the fact he had no idea if she knew how to fight hand to hand.

"I'll take option two for now."

Jazz left the room, and came back with an odd bottle and a teaspoon.

"I'm only going to give you the lowest dose, at least until we figure out which one works best for you. The minimum you'll sleep is eight hours, to my knowledge."

Tony made a face at the taste, which was horrible. However there was no denying it was highly effective. Within two minutes of taking it, he was out like a light.

When he woke up in the morning, he was shocked to find he didn't remember a single dream. Whatever that gross tasting herbal remedy was, it was _very_ effective.

He actually felt a bit better once he woke up, even if he did have to make a face when he saw the decidedly _healthy_ breakfast Jazz had made.

"Please tell me this isn't going to be a regular thing..."

He did not _do_ healthy.

Jazz gave him a flat look.

"Unless you want to learn how to cook for yourself, you will have to live with what I make in the mornings. Besides, it's about time you learned to drop some of your bad habits."

Tony grimaced, but ate the food and was surprised to find it better than most.

On second thought maybe he could pretend he wasn't eating whole grain bread and yogurt for breakfast.

"Can I at least have some bacon?" he asked, pleading.

Jazz threw some bacon onto the stove, and for some reason the smell made Tony cringe and try not to throw up what he had eaten.

"What the hell kind of bacon is that?" he asked.

Jazz turned and showed him the package. It was the same one he always bought, so why did it make his stomach turn?

She had a look of sympathy on her face.

"Little known fact about pork... when it's cooked it carries a scarily similar scent to burned human flesh. There's a reason why pigs make such excellent human analogs."

Tony felt like throwing up. The smell was turning his stomach into knots and causing minor flashbacks of the cave when he broke out.

Jazz finished cooking, threw on the fan above to ventilate the air...and threw the cooked meat outside. Tony was a bit baffled by this, because he knew she didn't like wasting food...until a large white bird flew out of nowhere to snatch the thrown pieces.

Tony balked when the bird flew _into_ the house and calmly sat on one of the chairs.

"Is that...an owl?" he said baffled.

"Her name is Hedwig. Don't worry, I'm a trained handler of large predatory birds and she's very tame," said Jazz.

Hedwig ripped into the bacon and finished it with neat bites. Then to the complete disbelief of Tony, walked along Jazz's closed hand up her arm to sit on her shoulder without once trying to maul her.

"Why an owl?"

"She was the first present I could ever remember getting. Besides, pet birds are fairly common."

"Last I checked owls were not considered pets."

"They are when you have an exotic animal license and know how to handle them correctly. Relax, she'll leave you alone if you leave her alone...though she can deliver messages. I freaked out Happy the other day when I had her deliver his lunch," said Jazz impishly.

Tony's mild breakdown crashed hearing that.

"Seriously? I thought carrier birds went out with the phone?"

"In certain areas of Europe and Australia it's not that uncommon to find carrier owls. I know certain groups that swear by them and refuse to get so much as a basic landline," said Jazz.

She went up to Tony and made him close his left hand into a fist. Then she carefully transferred Hedwig to it.

The owl gave Tony a measuring look, before huffing and flying off to one of the chairs for a nap. She _was_ a nocturnal animal after all.

"Well that went well."

"How so?"

"If Hedwig didn't like you, you would know pretty fast by the way she was mauling you. She's fair protective of me. Her behavior says that she's settled on indifference for now," said Jazz cheerfully. "You'll have plenty of time to know her a bit better, since you have the week off."

"What?!" said Tony angrily.

"You just came back from being held captive for months with a known terrorist group and after being tortured for who knows how long. The _last_ thing you should be doing is working so soon after coming home, especially since you haven't even begun to work on the trauma of what happened," said Jazz flatly. "There's a _reason_ I had the lawyers write me in as co-owner of Stark Industries if you were found and returned. Once I feel that you're ready to come back, you're free to alter or undo any of the changes I've made. I'm not restricting you from your personal lab and this gives you time to adjust back into your normal routine."

Tony wanted to argue that he wasn't a child, that he could take care of himself.

Except look where that had gotten him in the first place.

Besides, even he couldn't argue with the logic she presented, as much as it grated on him to be told off by a girl twenty years younger than he was.

Jazz's expression softened.

"Look, I'll run by any important things through you first before I make any major changes. You'll still be able to do work, but you're not ready to jump back into the routine you had before. Besides... this way you can calm down without having to deal with Pepper's sympathetic or pitying looks while you're adjusting," she calmly explained.

Tony grimaced. Okay, he could agree to that much at least. For some reason the idea of dealing with pity or sympathy just pissed him off.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony was still more than a little irritated at the fact he being put on semi-house arrest, so he devoted most of the week in upgrading the new armor he made.

Though he did make an extra set for Jazz, one that would be made once he had a scan of her body measurements. The suit he had in mind would be fitted to one person only and have the AI running most of the 'boring' stuff so the one inside could focus on the important things, like flying.

It also gave him more time to focus on a smaller version of the arc reactor.

However it was when he went to get the medical scan of his daughter that he hit a major roadblock he never expected to find.

While the 'naughty bits' were more or less covered by the bra and female boxers she was wearing, the rest of it wasn't. Dr. Strange had been very thorough when she had to sit through the physical (though he still wondered why she insisted an ex-surgeon with a really weird idea of fashion do the exam) and documented everything.

Which was why Tony was staring in abject disbelief and no small amount of horror at the sheer number of _scarring_ on her body.

He even included helpful tidbits like the most likely 'cause' of the injuries and roughly how old she would have been at the time. Some of them didn't make sense, like the line of weird divets that went down her back from her right shoulder down to roughly where the kidneys were, or the hole that _almost_ looked like a 'through and through' on her right arm, or the scarring on her left hand that clearly read in almost neat penmanship "I must not tell lies."

Tony couldn't look away or pretend he saw nothing. Just reading the 'cause' section along with the 'age' made his blood boil as it was very, very clear his daughter had been abused from early childhood until she left England. He had thought she had merely suffered from general neglect and emotional trauma from the cupboard, and hadn't that been a horrific discovery that the investigator shared...learning Jazz had quite literally lived in a cupboard under the stairs for close to ten full years before finally getting a proper bedroom that the investigator had been appalled to find had no less that _six_ locks on the door and a _cat flap_ of all things, never mind the signs that there had also been bars on the windows that had been ripped out at one point.

She was somewhat underweight, showed signs of malnourishment and a few lingering traces of conditions that shouldn't _exist_ these days in civilized countries like scurvy, and there was a look in her eyes that said she had seen hell and survived.

Tony had filed the knowledge that Jazz had a really rough childhood, but it wasn't until he saw the scans that it really sank in just how much of a survivor his daughter was. It was no wonder she was so much more mature than him, or why she was so independent.

For a moment, Tony _almost_ contemplated avoiding the rest. But now that he saw with his own eyes how bad things had been, he couldn't look away.

He read the rest of the document and felt pissed all over again.

Strange had apparently gotten help with this part, because there were signs of several ad-libs and code words that only barely made sense to someone like him.

The thing that alarmed him the most was the fact that Jazz had enough snake anti-venom in her system to quite literally kill several grown men, and there was a notation in her file that because of it she would never be able to donate blood. It was simply too poisonous and it was a miracle she was even alive, much less fully functional. There was also an odd note in her file that said she had part of a snake's tooth deeply embedded in the same area as the near through and through in her right arm. It was apparently impossible to remove, though there seemed to be no ill effects of it being there.

The thing that bugged Tony the most was the 'size' of the chip in her arm. He wasn't an expert, but even _he_ knew that snake fangs didn't grow _that_ large. Not unless she was bitten by a monster of a snake or something, which was ridiculous.

It was official...he was going to make her a suit of armor if it killed him. The idea of his own kid having to go through that much crap without it pissed him off something fierce.

* * *

"...JARVIS, is there any reason Tony requested a copy of my physical and medical scans?" asked Jazz. Nyx had sent it, but had only told her who it was for after the fact.

" _His current project requires details about your height, weight and body measurements. He thought the medical file would be the most efficient route,"_ explained JARVIS.

Jazz paused, before sighing.

"Exactly how much has he read?"

" _He hesitated to read the other half of the report regarding internal and biological matters, but he seemed rather perplexed at the fact you have a large shard of a snake fang embedded in your right arm."_

Great...she might have to explain about magic sooner than she thought. She had hoped to put it off until Tony was a bit more stable.

She put it out of mind until she and Pepper stumbled across Tony wearing a rather odd suit of armor that he was having great trouble removing after he tested out the flight systems.

Suddenly the strange reports Nyx found made far too much sense.

Jazz sighed.

"Let's be honest, this is far from the most compromising position you've found me in," said Tony somewhat sheepishly.

"Well this explains why you needed my medical scans," she said exasperated.

Though she had to wonder... Did Tony pick Gryffindor colors deliberately or was that a very bizarre coincidence?

Once he was out of the suit and eating some pizza Jazz ordered earlier, he looked at them both expectantly. Jazz, more than Pepper though.

After coming back from being held captive, he had found it easier to relate to his daughter than to Pepper. Jazz understood what he went through, something he was rather worried about discovering the details of if he could tell even a fragment of how rough her childhood was from the medical scans alone.

He had the feeling he had only begun to see the tip of that particular iceburg and it was only going downhill from here.

Tony looked at Jazz, waiting for her reaction to the armor.

"If you're expecting me to bite your head off for making a suit of armor, you'll be sitting there for a long time. Considering the fact that it looks like certain powers are starting to wake up and take notice of humanity again, it's probably a good thing you've found a way to fight back. Though please, don't go the whole Batman route," said Jazz, sipping her chai tea.

"What does that mean?" said Tony baffled. He only vaguely knew what Batman was.

"No emo avenger crap, no angsting and you _will_ learn to play nice with others. I will not hesitate to cut your ego back down to tolerable levels if you start to take on the wrong sort of responsibilites. Leave politics to people who can stomach them," said Jazz bluntly. "The last thing we need to deal with is _you_ taking on responsibilities that weren't your problem in the first place out of some mistaken sense of guilt."

Tony was highly unstable at the moment, and if he didn't have someone to fall back on to reign him in, he could go down a dangerous route and become a control freak.

Pepper was a decent stabilizing agent, but he needed someone on the same level as him to bring him back down to earth. Someone who he could relate to and could act as his consience.

For someone like Pepper, that was asking a bit too much. If she felt that sort of pressure for too long she might just leave.

In a strange way, Jazz was almost glad her biological father was something of a glorified man-child that was rather high maintenance. Being able to deal with his problems helped her to forget her own, as it was a full time job and Tony didn't look to be maturing into an actual adult anytime soon. There was also the fact that the _second_ she found out he was her father, any "romantic" desires died a permanent death. She could care for him without any notions of trying to bed him, even if she had discovered a preference for older men.

Those her age were all horribly immature and too annoying for her to deal with.

Pepper looked at her aghast.

"You're okay with this?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I mainly had a problem with all the explosive weaponry he insisted on making like the Jericho missile. The armor looks more like a precision weapon that requires actual tactics and skill to use as opposed to mass destruction and has other applications than just being a weapon," said Jazz shrugging.

"It can fly too," said Tony.

He had to wonder at the sudden intense look he was getting from Jazz.

"Could you repeat that?"

"It can fly too, at supersonic levels. Pretty sure I broke the sound barrier at one point while testing it, and that wasn't even at half power. Though I did have to adjust the metals I used...it froze over when I went too high," said Tony.

Was Jazz drooling?

"Are you telling me that you found a way to create a suit of armor that allows for supersonic high-altitude flight that also protects the one wearing it from the forces that would rip it apart _and_ is highly maneuverable?" she asked intently, stars in her eyes.

Tony grinned and nodded...to think he had been worried that Jazz would be against his new toy!

Pepper eyed Jazz oddly.

"Are you actually drooling?"

Jazz wiped her mouth, before saying sheepishly "Maybe? I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie and ground-based stunts simply don't appeal to me...flying is one of my passions though."

Tony was positively grinning like an idiot. Yet another thing to prove she was his daughter!

"I almost have a suit ready for you, but I would rather have current schematics to work with. It's supposed to be a _fitted_ piece."

Tony almost blinked when he saw the dust cloud. Apparently Jazz was very, _very_ eager to fly.

* * *

Tony had to admit, he did _not_ see this coming.

Jazz was always so mature, down-to-earth and generally reserved. She was practically an adult in a teenager's body, with world weary eyes.

The second she put on the armor and got the hang of flying (which took about ten to twenty minutes, compared to the two or three hours it took him) she started putting the armor through moves he would have balked at.

Like the near collision before pulling up at the last split second before impact...he knew he heard the metal straining!

On the plus side, he now knew who to act as a test pilot, if she was this much of a natural in the air. On the other hand, he wasn't sure if he would survive her inclination to do beyond dangerous stunts.

Was this karma coming back to bite him in the ass for all the crap he put Pepper through? Or just the same general payback that came from being a parent?

When she finally did land and go in, Tony had to cringe at the amount of stress she put the suit under.

On the plus side, at least he was finding this out _now_ as opposed to when he was in a fight.

"When you said you were a natural at flying, I didn't expect _that_ ," said Tony.

However there was no way he could take the suit back now. Not after seeing the shadows _finally_ chased away in her eyes and the way she looked like a happy teenager.

The only thing he could do at this point was damage control.

"If it makes you feel any better Tony, I've been taking self-defense lessons with people who actually know what they're doing and aren't in it for belts."

The group Dr. Strange was a part of practiced a lot of different martial arts, and none of it was for competitions. She joined in regularly at least three times a week once she was out of the office to practice with the sling rings and her own magic.

She was becoming quite proficient at using tessen and staves. Never mind the fact that quite a few of the things they taught allowed her to expand her knowledge of magic.

Hermione would have a fit if she knew all the neat tricks she was learning and none of it was regulated by any Ministry!

"Strangely that does make me feel better. Think they would let me join?"

"For basic martial arts, possibly. For the real stuff, no. You don't have the predisposition to use the advanced moves, but I might be able to convince one of them to give you hand to hand lessons. Boxing will only get you so far. That, or I could introduce you to the Professor and show you his special room."

Tony gave her a hard look at that. Jazz snorted.

"It's not what you think. He's managed to recreate the holodeck from Star Trek... he calls it the Danger Room. Basically a live-combat situation that can take place anywhere without the risk of anyone actually dying. Occasionally I join in with his students in running combat scenarios out of boredom. Far more useful than a simple capture the flag scenario."

It was through the Danger Room session that they found out she had a natural predisposition to leading people.

She had, more than once, lead her 'team' to victory despite going up against far more experienced opponents like Logan or Scott.

Tony looked thoughtful at that.

"Do you think he'd be open to sharing some of the tech to make that so we could create a training facility for soldiers and cops?"

Let it be said that Jazz had finally corrupted Tony to her way of thinking. Maybe not to the extent she herself would do it, but enough that he could finally make some progress away from the 'weapons designer' mindset.

"I bet you anything if we could create something like that for multiple bases, it would get the government off our ass about the contract... preferably before we expose the suits to the general public. I'm not going to say you can't go around acting as a sort of vigilante and doing things to help people, but I really don't want to deal with those idiots trying to get their claws on a suit they can't even afford."

Tony snorted at that.

* * *

Tony's first meeting with Professor Xavier was interesting to say the least.

And by that, she meant the fact that Xavier had deliberately brought one of the more obvious mutants with him to judge Tony's reaction.

Beast was perfectly polite and able to answer several technical questions Tony had about the Danger Room...even if he wasn't wearing his special watch that made his appearance more human.

Tony took queues from Jazz, who happily shook Beast's hand and didn't even bat an eye at his appearance. And once Tony really got into it over the technical specifications about the machine, he started to forget that the man before him was blue and had fur all over.

By the end of it, Tony's unease with Beast had switched more to curiosity than anything about mutants.

Xavier was more than happy to elaborate on what mutants actually were and how their powers manifested, with Jazz adding her own input to make it easier to understand.

In her opinion, mutants were nothing more than people with an extra quirk like having two different colored eyes or an extra toe. Not exactly something to be alarmed about or hostile towards, unless they were hostile first.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony was rather pleased with himself. Once they started having a viable 'portable' version of the Danger Room created, with a few tweaks from the original, the government was already scrambling to get their hands on it.

Having a facility where soldiers could be put through live combat without any risk to their own lives to acclimate them to real world battlefield conditions was _extremely_ valuable.

The fact Tony also planned to make smaller, less expensive versions of it for SWAT and other first responder teams only gave the company a major boost in the good PR department. Pepper was very pleased about that.

Unknown to Tony though, Jazz had one more facility she was making with the equipment. A place for PTSD survivors and those coming off the active combat zones to successfully 'acclimate' off of a more adrenaline-based mindset and back to a less violent atmosphere.

The room would slowly wean the soldiers being taken off active battlefields like Afganistan back into a civilian mindset, hopefully removing the triggers associated with PTSD. If nothing else it would help them cope with any traumas they had.

So it was with no little amount of relief that the order for the training equipment filled out what was left of the government contract hanging over their heads.

Tony finished that order with a flourish and made sure to have Rhodey pass along the fact that they wouldn't be taking any new contracts for a while...they still had a lot to reorganize and he would be too busy to deal with new orders for more toys.

It wouldn't be until a week later that Tony and Jazz had a chance to field test their new suits...and enter into a live combat situation of their own.

Tony looked at his daughter.

"You're okay with me going there to blow up our own weapons?"

Jazz snorted.

"Tony, the government will just sit on their asses citing 'foreign policy' and 'diplomatic relations' and do nothing. And without their approval, the soldiers can't do a damn thing about it without risking being dishonorably discharged or court martialed. If they won't do something about this situation, I see no reason why _we_ can't," she replied flatly. "You did add the adjustments I asked for to my suit, right?"

"I still don't get how a pair of energy fans and a staff are going to be more useful than the weapons I have on mine."

"Training," said Jazz flatly, pleased she had a new pair of toys to play with.

She may have given Tony ideas when she introduced him to the _Gundam_ series she stumbled upon...she wanted beam rifles and energy weapons to play with, dammit!

And no, it wasn't enough that she could recreate most of the weapons with her sling ring. She wanted the real thing.

(She secretly suspected she might have influenced Tony with her love of the series, because her incorperated more of the weapon designs from the show than the simple one he had on him. Either that or he was trying to earn brownie points for some reason, because her armor made her look like a valkyrie or close to it.)

* * *

 _With Rhodey_

Rhodey had to stare at the limited view they had of the two odd suits on radar. One of them was clearly unused to dealing with things going to hell in a hurry. It was clinging to the bottom of the plane to try and curtail any more fire in it's direction.

The other one, however...

That damn thing flew around like it was _made_ for the air doing quick turns and sudden stops like it was a damn bird, despite looking more like the old pictures of Valkyries. Then it took an odd stance and suddenly it clicked what they were dealing with.

"Son of a..."

Rhodey was already dialing Tony.

" _Kinda busy here Rhodes!"_

"And would this have anything to do with the two suits we have on radar that we're trying to shoot down?" asked Rhodey quietly.

" _...Can I get back to you on that?"_ said Tony sheepishly.

"I have only one question... are you the one on the plane or the one acting like a damn falcon that's driving our pilots nuts trying to lock on?" grinned Rhodey.

" _...Plane."_

Rhodey had to fight the urge to smirk. He could only imagine what Jazz's stunt flying was doing for Tony's health, since it was clear she was a far superior flier compared to him.

Payback was a bitch, and he was going to enjoy giving Jazz every opportunity to give Tony heart attacks and make him suffer...er, _enjoy_ the wonders of being a father.

Seeing the loss of the planes (which he suspected Jazz or Tony would discreetly pay them back for), Rhodey prepared himself to visit his friend and find out what the hell those two had been working on.

Rhodey noticed the open bottle of good booze, and the fact there were _three_ glasses out before looking at Tony and Jazz.

Jazz was clearly coming of an adrenaline rush and Tony just looked frazzled.

"Not a word to Pepper," said Jazz, already pouring herself a stiff drink.

Rhodey said nothing...if Pepper asked he would honestly claim that the drinking age in England was a bit lower than in America and wash his hands of it.

Magical England, that is.

"Why not?" asked Tony.

"She seems determined to mother hen me and put a lock on the cabinet. _Apparently_ she thinks she can keep me from turning into a second version of you if I don't start drinking early," said Jazz sarcastically. "Too bad for her I know how to pick locks and Nyx can bypass anything electronic."

"...Is that why I saw so many boxes of those bourbon filled chocolates in the cabinet?"

"As far as she's aware, they're just really expensive imported chocolates. She can't read any of the labels."

Tony snorted, and poured another shot of the more expensive brandy.

He wasn't the _least_ bit surprised when Jazz, rather than throw it back like a novice, savored it properly without gagging at the burn.

If she had a childhood he suspected she had, he would have turned to drinking to. At least it was better than being a drug addict.

For a few hours, the three spent a good time talking, drinking and just unwinding for the day.

And then things turned weird when Jazz started on the whiskey, as the brandy had long since been used. It was only a half bottle anyway.

Rhodey winced when he realized the shift in her speech. Her accent was a bit heavier, and Tony had been quick to figure out that her tongue was considerably looser.

As much as he hated learning what had happened to her, Tony did care enough to trick his own daughter into talking.

So long as it was restricted to everything before eleven, they could still salvage the night.

Somehow Rhodey didn't think he would be that lucky.

* * *

Jazz woke up to one _hell_ of a hangover, and was very glad she had a few potions in her private cabinet in stock to deal with it.

Exactly how much had she drunk last night for her headache to be this bad?

One quick grimace at the taste of the potion, and the worst of the effects were gone. She went out to make breakfast...only to find it already made.

She had to stare in shock at the sheer mess on the counter... apparently Tony tried to cook in _her_ kitchen.

"Did a flour bomb explode last night when I was sleeping?" she asked incredulous.

Tony looked at her with a sheepish expression...most of the flour was on him, as he had tried to make pancakes with the mixer.

The results were...entertaining...to say the least.

"Any particular reason you're trying to cook?"

Rhodey, who for some strange reason was crashing on the couch, answered her.

"You let a few things slip last night when we opened up the whiskey," he clarified.

Jazz paled.

"What sort of things?"

"Mostly bits and pieces of your childhood, though there were a few tidbits he definitely wasn't expecting. Like how your entire boarding school turned on you for being thrown into a tournament you didn't enter, or because you have a talent for handling snakes."

"Question... how would a snake function in Scotland? I mean the climate isn't exactly reptile friendly," asked Tony.

"I have no idea. I mean it's not like the school had a proper heating system or anything...the corridors could get bloody cold during winter and fall."

She shared a look with Rhodey. He didn't seem overly worried, which meant she only went into general details and not specific tidbits that would lead Tony to discovering magic.

She wasn't _quite_ ready to share that with her birth father. Neither was Rhodey for that matter.

Tony was still recovering, though he had bounced back rather admirably.

"How's the hangover?" asked Tony smirking at her. He could well remember _his_ first time at hard drinking. Howard had taken far too much pleasure in berating him for it.

Jazz shared another look with Rhodey, who seemed openly amused.

"What's a hangover?

The look on Tony's expression was hilarious.

"Light and sound sensitivity, nausea, feeling like crap and a pounding headache? Any of that ring a bell?" said Tony staring at her.

Jazz grinned.

"Nope."

"HOW? You drank more than either of us! I know I would have felt it in the morning at that age!"

"Some of us are just that gifted. Besides, mum was half-Irish. Being able to weather heavy drinking with minimal effects is in our blood," said Jazz cheekily.

Not entirely true, but she had an unholy pain tolerance and she had come prepared with a hangover remedy. But he didn't need to know that.

Besides, her Irish roots had helped her to outlast the two grown men last night.

Rhodey was trying desperately hard not to laugh at Tony's face.

* * *

Jazz was staring down the obvious secret agent. Something in her gaze made Mr. Coulson feel very much like he was standing in front of a shorter green-eyed, British version of Fury with a knowing gaze.

"We are not secret agents, Mr. Coulson. Nor are we inclined to join whatever group you're part of. Tell whomever you work for that at the moment we are not interested in joining. It's bad enough Tony has it in his head to be a vigilante super hero," said Jazz flatly.

Coulson had the good grace to look a tad embarassed.

"Actually Miss Evans, when it comes to compatibility with our group, you were picked before your father was."

"What."

"Your exploits from before you left England has caught the interest of the director, and your new armor has made you even more appealing as a potential agent. We're not asking you to be a full time member, but Director Fury was wanting to know if you'd be interested in a part-time basis."

"And what's in it for me?"

"Full access to our satellites and the knowledge that you would be allowed to permanently deal with the 'problem' back in England...you could order a full strike on his bases and not have to deal with any legal issues. It's gotten quite bad since you left as the only opposition is more interested in finding you for some prophecy rather than deal any decisive blows to them," said Coulson immediately.

The offer was very tempting.

"Do you have a list of people I can ask to join whatever team I could make to permanently get rid of those idiots? And the agreement that I would not be forced to remain, regardless of what their Ministry demands?"

"By this point the Queen and the Prime Minister are fully prepared to shut down the so called Ministry of Magic and forcibly create a new one. This entire situation has gone on far too long and they need a reality check," replied Coulson. "Also, I've been authorized to inform you that regardless of the fact that you aren't the actual biological daughter of James Potter, that your current status as the head of the Potter and Black families stands due to a ritual they performed shortly after it was discovered you might not be his."

Translation: she still had all the titles and money from being the last heir of the Potter family as well as the head of the Black family. Even if she was actually a Stark.

"Any particular reason?" she asked mildly.

Coulson's smile was a tad vicious.

"Some might call it favoritism, the Queen prefers to call it an 'incentive' to clean up the mess they made since they seem so determined to use you as a child soldier. If anyone asks, you would be awarded the titles and everything that went along with them along with a possible knighthood so long as you don't screw it up. The goblins certainly aren't going to care."

"Just send me the files of the agents I can bring with me to deal with those bastards once and for all. Knowing that they wouldn't be able to harass me after would be enough reason for me to finish what they started."

Later that night, she got a mystery file from "SHIELD" as she had mentally started to call it in her head. The real name was far too long for casual use.

She hated leaving things unfinished, and this particular mess was something she would love to have over and done with, so she could live out the rest of her life in _relative_ peace without it hanging over her head.


	9. Chapter 9

_**No people, I am not dead. I recently got a new job and it's taking a while to adjust to my new schedule. I apologize if the fact I suddenly quit updating in the past few days alarmed you and want to thank everyone who sent me a PM recently asking if I was alright.**_

As strange as it was, it almost felt good to be back in England.

And then she remembered the crap she went through, and that good mood dampened.

"You sure your contacts will be here?" asked Clint, aka Hawkeye. The two of them had formed an unusual bond when she proved she could match him fairly well when it came to archery. Guns were so...boring.

Besides, she promised him free upgrades to his arrows and the almost guarantee he would get to use his more messy ones without having to fill out the paperwork for it.

Natasha... well, the two of them had bonded over crappy childhoods and the fact that Jazz wouldn't say a thing if she castrated a few of the pure bloods. Surprisingly the Black Widow was a witch, though not formally trained.

Seeing the patronus, Jazz grinned.

"Hawkeye, meet Chaos and Discord," said Jazz.

Fred and George promptly tried to hug the stuffing out of her.

"Eris, where did you go?"

"Long story short I still have living family in America, and that's all you're getting. Chaos, Discord, this is Hawkeye and Black Widow. We're here to put an end to the nonsense once and for all...with extreme prejudice."

Fred looked confused.

"What does that mean?"

"It means we get to blow shit up and not get yelled at for it later. Considering all the damage those idiots who have been causing, the Queen and the Prime Minister are more than happy to look the other way if we just decide to blow the hell out of their bases for the sheer fun of it, so long as they're dealt with," clarified Clint helpfully. "That includes the Ministry itself, since they've pretty much screwed the pooch."

"I am going to have sooo much fun blowing that up, once we've cleared the area," said Jazz vindictively. "But not before exploiting the fact that those idiots never raised the rates for normal currency and gold exchange."

She was going to abuse the hell out of that particular system before they fixed it. And share the spoils with her two new friends. Best of all, since she knew for a _fact_ that Gringotts burned the excess currency anyway because they had no way to exchange it, she had been authorized to use all the notes that were going to be disposed of anyway by the Queen to drain the magical economy dry in an effort to force them to convert to the normal currency.

Let it be said that the Queen and Prime Minister were quite pissed off with the magical idiots, and had no issue with forcing them into an economic depression.

"Chaos, Discord, I have a special assignment for you two."

"What's that Eris?"

"I want you to upgrade Hawkeye's arrows so they can do all sorts of fun things, up to and including exploding when they impact. I know for a fact he's good enough to shoot a Death Eater in the ass," said Jazz cheerfully.

The two shared a look, then at the arrows Clint had on him with an evil grin.

"We can do that."

"Also, he needs an upgraded quiver. His current stock of arrows isn't nearly enough to cause enough havoc, destruction and wide spread anarchy."

The twins gave a thumbs up.

"So do you want to head to the Order headquaters or the actual resistance? Just know they're not exactly happy with the fact you left and Mum has been gearing up for one massive shouting match because of it."

"The actual resistance, because the Order can go to hell. They were useless before and the fact that there's a seperate group in the fight tells me they haven't changed in the least," said Jazz bluntly.

Natasha walked up to Jazz with an amused look on her face.

"So is Eris your codename?"

"My Marauder's name. Do you really think Fury wants a part-time agent with a name based off an ancient personification of chaos?"

"Considering the general poll for your 'super' name is leaning heavily on Iron Maiden since the press has been calling Tony 'Iron Man'..."

"Which Iron Maiden?" asked Jazz curiously. "The musical group, or the torture device where you shove people in and when you close the door spikes skewer anyone inside it? Or are they trying to imply I'm some sort of Valkyrie or something?"

"I think it's mosly a play on his name," admitted Natasha, openly amused that Jazz caught the double reference. "Since you're much younger than he is and haven't exactly bothered to date anyone publicly. Coincidentally 'Valkyrie' was the second choice."

Jazz snorted at that.

Hermione was in a real mood, but fortunately Jazz knew exactly how to deal with that.

She silenced her without the slightest bit of hesitation.

"Listen and listen well Granger. You are not my mother. You are not related to me in any significant way that would give you any right to how I live my life. Quite frankly I find it horrifying that you've allowed magic to override your common sense and have somehow managed to fall into the same trap as the idiots who have let it get this bad. We are going to do things my way, and if you don't like it you're free to join the little tea society Dumbledore created and let the adults make all the decisions for as if you were still a child," said Jazz icily.

"Bloody hell. What happened to you?" asked Ron.

Jazz turned on him next, and he instinctively cringed back from her glare.

"Don't think I've forgotten you, _Ronald_. Let me make this _abundantly_ clear. When this fight is over I am going to return to America _without you_. I don't care what little ideas you may or may not have had, but there is no way I will EVER be interested in you. You ruined any chances of that fourth year with your behavior, and I am not allowing your positively Slytherin mindset hold me back ever again. The so-called Golden Trio died the day Dumbledore took a dive off the tower," said Jazz with absolutely no room for argument.

Dead silence.

"What happened to you?" asked Neville timidly.

"It's called growing up and leaving the cage that the magical enclaves insisted on throwing me in. I have enough on my plate taking care of that glorified man-child Tony Stark, I don't need to add babysitting the magical enclaves onto it," said Jazz bluntly.

"Who's Tony Stark?" asked Ron.

Natasha and Clint shared a look. No wonder Jazz was fed up with them...they were all idiots.

"Now...where exactly are their bases located and what is the general number of troops inside?" asked Jazz briskly. The sooner she got this over with, the happier she would be.

It took them a week, but eventually they were able to get a basic idea of the situation at hand.

Almost immediately, Clint, Jazz and Natasha all had the same idea upon hearing about the taboo and the Snatchers.

They were so going to abuse that system to kill off as many idiots as possible. They were practically _asking_ for it.

"Fred, George, do you still have those 'restricted' products I warned you not to sell to the general public? I think we're going to have quite a few test dummies to use them on," said Jazz far too cheerfully.

"Remember, she _did_ want to deal with those who are actually cursed, and not general volunteers," said Natasha as a reminder.

"We can sort those out pretty fast," said Jazz.

"What are you going to do?" asked Neville.

"We're going to abuse the Taboo, capture anyone who shows up, and if they're genuine Death Eaters we're going to kill them via hanging," said Jazz bluntly.

Seeing the horrified looks on their faces, she gave them a hard one of her own.

"The reason this mess has gone on so long is because no one has had the balls to do what was necessary, if unpleasant. By this point anyone who willingly wears the mask or wear the mark has been classified a terrorist and a traitor to the crown, and there's only one fate left for them. They should be grateful they are going to be given a quick death, as opposed to a slow and painful one. The government has no interest in dragging it out and risking these bastards getting loose twice."

They were going to shove veritaserum down their throats, get a clear cut answer as to whether they were "true believers" and once they had the information they needed they were going to be hanged if they weren't under the influence of the Imperius curse.

No muss, no fuss, and zero chance of the Death Eaters reclaiming their members.

And for those who still had titles or peerages when they were captured, the wealth and everything else would be redistrubited later to those who had contributed to dealing with the actual problem. Anything that wasn't a family heirloom or belonged specifically to that line alone was going to be taken from them.

They would be lucky to be left as paupers, by the time this mess was cleared up.

"While we deal with the Snatchers, I'm going to have Nyx go through tax records."

"Why?" demanded Hermione. She was still reeling from the fact her friend had changed so much.

"Because the one thing true of any government is that nothing is as reliable as tax records. Even if the Death Eaters _did_ infiltrate it, they'd never think to mess with those even if they did know where to look. And tax records often tie in to other records, making it easy to find things if you know what you're looking for... like general locations of where certain mansions are."

Hermione was stunned.

"But the wards..."

"Are only able to block what people can notice. If nothing else the records will narrow down areas where the mansions are _not_ and give us a much smaller area to search. Once we find the general location we can then map out the edge of the wards and call in for reinforcements. I guarantee you that we won't be going in quietly unless they have open hostages out," said Jazz bluntly.

Hermione clearly didn't like the sound of that, but she kept her peace. It was obvious Jazz had changed from the person she knew and she wasn't about to take orders from anyone ever again.

 _A few days later..._

Jazz was on a hillside under camoflage. Next to her were a few other SHIELD agents including Natasha. Jazz had a sniper's rifle within easy reach and she was very glad that she had gotten training in how to use it before coming back to England.

"We in position?"

" _Ready and waiting, Valkyrie,"_ said Clint. He was in the trees out of sight with enough knock out gas to take down three elephants.

While Jazz's "official" name was Iron Maiden, her "SHIELD agent" identity had been set as Valkyrie. Mostly because no one wanted to use the call sign "Agent Maiden" or "Agent Iron" when they contacted her.

"Alright, then lets start the fireworks and enjoy the show. With any luck we'll catch some fat fish," said Jazz.

" _Copy that,"_ said Clint. _"Setting off the taboo now."_

Two minutes after Clint said the name, a group of ten Snatchers appeared.

He had them all knocked out in less than five minutes, as they never saw him fire.

" _Looks like we might have caught a big fish, or just a middling one,"_ said Clint, kicking one of the skull-masked idiots.

"Fun. Bag 'em and tag 'em. We'll leave sorting them out to the other agents," said Jazz.

" _You got it boss,"_ said Clint. He stripped them down to their skivvies, made sure to snap any wands he could find, and made damn sure that none of them had any portkeys using a neat little toy that the twins had given him to detect active magic.

They repeated the process twice more, and Jazz called it to a halt once they hit thirty captives.

There was no point in the Death Eaters catching on to the trick so soon by trying to get too many. Thirty was plenty to start with.

Hermione wasn't the only one staring when she saw how many people they captured.

"What are you going to do with them?" she asked.

"We'll shove veritaserum down their throat, as if they are a willing member of Voldemort's boy band, and depending on the answer they might be detained or sent to the gallows," said Jazz.

Hermione didn't look happy, but she kept her silence. Jazz had already done more than the Order had for the past two years in a single night.

She was rather dismayed to see the five hanging bodies on the news two days later. No trial, no chance to escape...they were made to tell them everything they knew before they were promptly hanged.

It was the dream again.

Tony vividly remembered the conversation he had with Yinsen about family.

 _Flashback_

"You still haven't told me where you're from," said Tony.

"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place."

"Got a family?" asked Tony.

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?"

Tony was silent. However he trusted Yinsen with his life and it wasn't like the men holding them could read his lips from the camera they had. His back was to it.

"I have a daughter. She's about seventeen. Didn't even know she was mine until my friends noticed the resemblance."

Yinsen was openly surprised, but then again Tony had never publicly claimed Jazz before.

"What does she look like?" asked Yinsen.

"Pale, with Irish features. She has short black hair with red fringe, and verdant green eyes like emeralds. She's more mature than I ever was, and I know the company will be in good hands with her," said Tony.

"And her name?"

"Jasmine. Jasmine Evans. She said she wasn't ready to come out as a Stark because she didn't want people to think she only showed up for the money or the fame," said Tony quietly.

"When we leave here, you will see her again," said Yinsen.

"I don't even know anything about why she fled England. I barely know a thing about her," said Tony.

"Then perhaps you should spend less time building weapons, and more time with your family," said Yinsen.

Tony said nothing, though he silently vowed to be a better father when he got out.

 _Flashback end_

Tony rolled over. It bothered him that he had no idea what Jazz was doing in England, or when she would be back.

The conversation with Yinsen bugged him so much that he couldn't sleep. And he wasn't about to be dependent on that herbal remedy Jazz left behind for him.

So when Rhodey came to visit later that afternoon, Tony had enough.

He had seen the secret glances and amused looks his friend and daughter kept sharing, like they were part of something that they couldn't tell him about.

Rhodey seemed to sense something was up, because he said nothing.

"What do you want to know?" he asked tiredly.

"Where is my daughter?" asked Tony seriously.

Rhodey winced.

"It's complicated."

"Then uncomplicate it. I know you two are hiding something and I want to know what it is."

Rhodey could tell that there was no way Tony was going to let this go anytime soon.

"She's in the middle of forcibly ending a civil war in England that's been going on for the past thirty or so years. It was put on hold for close to fourteen, but it recently started up again," said Rhodey.

"Bullshit. England isn't in the middle of a civil war. If they were it would be all over the news," said Tony.

"I never said it was a civil war between the average citizens," said Rhodey.

Seeing he had Tony's full attention, Rhodey silently palmed his wand. He didn't want to erase the memory of magic from Tony, but if he had to he would.

"It's a civil war between two factions of a very old society that goes back to the Dark Ages that can use unique powers similar to mutants, except they have a more diverse range of abilities," said Rhodey.

"You make it sound like magic is real," said Tony in disbelief. Mutants he could believe, as they were a genetic quirk of evolution. But magic?

Rhodey took his wand and turned Tony's couch into a large hippo.

Tony's disbelief at the sight was fairly obvious.

" _Sir, there is a large herbivore in the living room. Should I alert Animal Control?"_ asked JARVIS.

"You're a witch?"

"Wizard. Jazz would be a witch," said Rhodey. He let Tony examine it, before turning it back. "We had to go into hiding during the Dark Ages because of the Witch Hunts, but for the record it was mostly normal people they caught. We take our secrecy very seriously."

"Why tell me now?" he asked hurt.

"Because as Jazz's father, you have a right to know about magic. Only immediate family is cleared to know about it, though if you displayed any of the same behaviors as the anti-mutant groups we would have to erase your memory of it. Jazz didn't want to tell you because she was worried you might react badly to her powers," said Rhodey. "Considering what she went through in England, it's only natural she would be leery of showing trust."

Tony latched onto that.

"You know what happened to her."

"General details, and you have to sift through a lot of nonsense. I can get you the back issues of the paper they have there, but if you want specifics you'll have to ask her," said Rhodey.

This would be a good way to distract Tony until Jazz got back.


	10. Chapter 10

Tony was appalled. He was starting to see why Jazz had left England, if this was the level of competence the average 'wizard' displayed.

They went from hailing her as the next coming of Merlin (who knew he was real), to being an evil villian like the terrorists who held him captive for three months.

And they fully expected her to act as some 'savior' when they treated her like a caged bird.

"Rhodey... why exactly did she go back?" asked Tony disgusted.

"She was asked to put an end to the war once and for all. Once she gets rid of the worst of the lot, she'll come home and stay home."

"I want to see her."

"I have no idea where she is. But I have a general clue who to ask."

Tony was finally going to make that meeting with Agent Coulson.

* * *

Hermione stared when she saw who was in the base.

"Is that...Tony Stark?!"

Jazz was rather upset.

"Who told you where I was?"

"Agent Coulson. We need to talk," said Tony.

Jazz was not happy.

"Jazz...why is _Tony Stark_ here?" asked Hermione slowly.

Jazz winced.

"It's complicated and I would be happy to explain it to you later. Much later."

Hermione wasn't happy about that, but Jazz at least kept her promises. Unlike Dumbledore, who kept them in the dark.

Jazz waited for her friends to leave the room, before she faced her father.

"So... you know."

"Rhodey explained it to me. And turned the couch into a hippo," said Tony.

Jazz winced.

"I wanted to tell you...but I didn't know how you would react."

Tony thought back to the newspaper articles he read, and winced.

"I get why you didn't tell me about magic, and why you came here. I just wanted you to know you can trust me with the important stuff, even if I do act like an idiot," said Tony.

"It's not that I don't trust you to keep silent... it's just that I've gotten sick and tired of adults abusing that trust over and over again for no other reason than because they thought they knew everything," said Jazz tiredly.

Tony knew she had trust issues. Hell, _he_ had trust issues.

Which was why he brought a peace offering in the hopes she might open up to him a bit more.

"I brought a new suit. I heard about the nickname they gave you so I gave it a bit of a visual upgrade. If you're going to be fighting a bunch of inbred hicks, then you should at least have the latest designs," said Tony.

He had changed the outward design to something a bit more along the lines of the old Norse legends about Valkyries. While it followed the same lines as his Iron Man armor, it was clearly made for a female body and the chest plating looked more like the older armors back during the viking era.

"You didn't have to bring it personally."

"Yeah I did. You're my daughter, and while I still have no idea how to feel about this whole magic mumbo-jumbo I'm going to try and support you. I want to be included in your life, even if I can't help you with this sort of thing," said Tony.

This was a big step for Tony. He was at least trying to be a better parent, even if he had no idea how to be one in the first place. He had the title shoved onto him with a daughter that was basically damaged goods in a lot of ways. It was a learning experience for them both.

"...Pepper does not need to know until she needs to know," said Jazz.

"Fair enough. I can hold down the fort until you come home. And I can pester Rhodes to tell me more about this magical society you're part of," said Tony.

In an impulse, Jazz hugged him. It took Tony a few seconds to hug her back, but they could both tell they had taken a big step forward in the right direction.

Even if it was a long road to being a proper family.

Hermione waited for a few hours before she asked about the suit.

Jazz was amazed it took her that long before she snapped and demanded answers.

"Why did Tony Stark of all people come here?"

"He wanted to deliver a new suit," said Jazz. She had looked over the designs and would openly admit she liked them. A lot.

At least he hadn't made her look like Wonder Woman or something. She would have hit him if he had.

Hermione stared at her.

"What on earth do you do at Stark Industries that he would openly hand over an upgraded suit for you to use?!"

Everyone who had any contact with the real world knew about Iron Man and the Iron Maiden.

Suddenly Hermione gave her an odd look.

"Don't tell me you're Iron Maiden."

"Since you told me not to tell you..."

"What on earth possessed you to make up a ridiculous name like that?"

"I didn't. The press came up with it on their own, and the only reason I have 'Iron Maiden' as a handle is because they wanted something to tie into Tony's new super hero identity. It sounded better than Iron Woman."

That and the fact she was Tony's kid and not his girlfriend was one of the main reasons. She was guessing Hermione missed that particular memo, or hadn't made the connection that "Jasmine Evans" was in fact "Jasmine Potter".

Then again she had been going as "Jazz Evans" when that press conference had been held announcing her heritage to the world.

Hermione stared at the new suit, then at her.

"Jazz...please tell me you aren't sleeping with him."

"Gods no, he's far too old for my tastes and neither of us would be interested in that sort of thing. At least not with each other," said Jazz openly horrified and more than a little nauseous.

It might be 'normal' for the purebloods to openly practice incest, but Tony absolutely wasn't her type. Never mind the fact he would have found the idea just as disgusting as she did.

"So why did he deliver a new suit to you personally? Much less customize it?" asked Hermione.

Jazz was more than a little irritated by Hermione's _need to know_ everything attitude.

"None of your damn business. If I feel like explaining it to you, which I don't at the moment, then I will. For now you can learn to keep your nose out of everyone else's business and leave me the hell alone," snapped Jazz. "I don't _have_ to explain every insignificant detail of my life to you, Granger."

Hermione looked like she had been slapped by a fish.

"I'm just worried about you! You've changed a lot since you left."

"It's called growing up and finally feeling comfortable in my skin. I was actually _happy_ to be away from this nonsense and not having everyone watching me like I'm some form of free entertainment. This is my life and _I_ have every right to decide how I'm going to live it...without having someone trying to dictate what I can do and who I can be!" snapped Jazz.

"I thought we were friends."

"Friends don't _have_ to know every detail of each other's lives. We're allowed to keep secrets from each other, especially when it's personal."

"Is he your uncle or something?" asked Hermione.

"Or something," admitted Jazz.

Hermione dropped the subject hearing that. Clearly Stark wanted his only living relative to be safe, since he didn't want his family hurt. The fact Jazz might be Stark's niece wasn't that far fetched... it wasn't that odd to think that Lily might be the illegitimate daughter of Howard Stark.

It certainly made more sense than her being fully related to that woman.

* * *

Jazz felt no little amount of vindication when she found out quite by accident that the arc reactor powering the suit allowed her bypass most wards. Whatever energy it was using, it worked _very_ well with magic.

Some days, it didn't pay to wake up in the morning.

Case in point, when she was stuck in a massive fight with some of the top ranking Death Eaters and her suit was currently back at the base camp because it was supposed to be a simple in and out recon mission.

Without really thinking, she reached for her tessen only to remember with some dismay she had left those behind in California.

At least she had her sling ring on her, so she could still use the energy based one.

It was as she went to block an attack from a dagger that it happened.

One minute she was using her tessen to block it, the next there was a death rattle from Mulciber as his left arm was damn near cut off by none other than the Sword of Gryffindor.

It took her a few moments to figure out why he had died from having his arm cut off before she realized.

Oh, right. The last time she used this she had killed a basilisk with it and had accidentally hit the venom sack... and being a goblin blade, naturally that meant it had absorbed the venom.

And he had just gotten a massive dose of it.

Carefully making a sheath for the blade, she grinned viciously as she proceeded to slice and dice any confirmed Death Eater she recognized in a rather sloppy, but highly efficient fashion.

She really needed to learn how to use this thing with a regular blade, before she accidentally hurt someone with it. Even she knew she was a complete amateur when it came to using a sword.

"What's with the sword?" asked Clint, a few hours later.

Hermione stared at it for a moment, before she squeaked in recognition.

"Jazz, _why do you have the Sword of Gryffindor?!"_

"Maybe it was bored? Or the fact I forgot to grab my usual weapon and needed something to deal with a certain pest called it to me," said Jazz flippantly.

"It's a sword, it doesn't have feelings," said Hermione patiently.

Jazz smirked at her.

"Magic."

Hermione opened her mouth, then shut it with a frustrated huff. Even she couldn't deny the sheer lack of logic that came with handling magic, and the sword _was_ reportedly old enough that it WAS possible the thing had developed sentience at some point.

Jazz shared a triumphant look with Luna. The oddball blond had been trying to get Hermione to loosen up for months since they gave up on relying on the Order to get things done.

* * *

She should have known her luck was just that weird. It had been fairly tame until that point, which meant she was overdue for an adventure.

At least she had the upgraded armor _and_ the new power source Tony had discovered by accident when he was going through some of Howard's old work.

Tony had been feeling nostalgic and discovered something odd about the original Stark Expo Howard had hosted before things went to hell and he became obsessed with finding Steve Rogers.

(He was very glad to find that, because the cores he had been using to power the arc reactor in his chest were starting to have some _nasty_ side effects.)

Voldemort hit her with a rather nasty curse, attempting to kill her...except it hit the arc reactor in her chest.

The container cracked, and right as she was able to finally kill the bastard once and for all, the energy contained within came out in a surge of power.

In her mind's palace, which Dr. Strange helped her to create in order to give her a chance to fix the shattered mental barriers, she saw a gem appear. It sat neatly next to the two others that were already there. The first had appeared when she first encountered the odd amulet that Dr. Strange had used to loop time. The second appeared when she visited Dumbledore's tomb to rob it...and to spit on his corpse.

She had the feeling they were important, but had absolutely no clue what the hell they were.

When she woke up, she found herself in a forest...and decidedly _not_ on Earth.

"Well, shit."

Today was not her day.

* * *

Tony was decidedly NOT happy upon hearing what happened to Jazz.

"So you're telling me the supervillian Jazz was putting a permanent end to hit her with a curse...and the arc reactor _exploded_?!" said Tony irate.

Natasha kept a rather admirable poker face.

"From what we can tell the arc reactor didn't actually explode...so much as use a form of transport that hasn't been used in centuries. Besides, according to the devices that the old goat had monitoring her, she's still very much alive."

Tony was glaring at her. He had _just_ managed to connect to his daughter, and now she was stranded in a strange place.

The odd blond woman next to the Black Widow smiled at him.

"The Valkyrie is safe enough. She's with the old gods and will find her own way home. After all, she is your daughter," said Luna.

It took Tony a moment to remember Jazz's alter identity was "Valkryie".

"Where is she?"

Luna smiled at him.

"Nyx, can you triangulate where the armor is?"

" _Right away, Lunabell!"_ said Nyx cheerfully.

Nyx threw open a screen on the windows, and it took a few moments before she was able to pinpoint the rough area of where Jazz was.

It was considerably out of reach of earth.

"What the heck is that?" asked Tony, squinting at the picture.

" _Magnifying now!"_

To his complete shock, the screen enlarged just enough to make out something that _wasn't_ a planet.

"See? I told you she was with the old gods. She'll fight right in with the Æsir," said Luna cheerfully.

"The what?" said Tony, staring at her.

" _It would seem Ms. Evans is with the Asgard,"_ translated JARVIS.

Tony was more curious as to how exactly Luna knew _exactly_ where Jazz was.


	11. Chapter 11

So apparently she was on Asgard. Terrific. At least the suit was easy enough to store, even if it was a hassle. And the damn power unit was damaged to the point it was impossible to fix... she would have to get a new one. Thank the gods (...on second thought, thank magic. Who knew who would hear her on Asgard) that she had designed _her_ suit to run off a back-up of magic instead of just the arc reactor!

Someone clearly had sense, because she definitely heard Nyx say something about 'triangulating' and 'location found' two days after landing here.

Well, if she was stuck here then she was going to make the most of it until she could boost the signal enough to connect to earth and make a call.

Which meant getting into the palace and hopefully finding something to power the suit more than magic could... they could lock onto her signal, but they couldn't connect.

Something she planned to fix the _second_ she got home.

When she walked by the outdoor training area, she briefly toyed with the idea of being a warrior.

That idea died when she saw how the arrogance of Thor, and how obvious Loki's resentment of being excluded (rather discreetly mind you) by Thor's friends was to anyone with eyes that bothered to look.

She would give the blond idiot credit... he did genuinely seem to care for Loki. His friends were another story.

It didn't help when she kept hearing how great Thor was, but heard little to no mention of his brother.

Mind made up, she made discreet inquiries about learning from whoever it was that did maintenance of the vehicles she kept seeing around the place.

Once they got over the incredulous disbelief someone wanted to actually learn something _useful_ as opposed to beating the shit out of people with their weapons and generally getting close to Thor, the engineers happily accepted her as an apprentice.

Which meant she had easy access to several toys and items to boost the signal of her suit enough to reach earth, even if it did cut out a lot for some reason.

She stuck to using Morse code... at least that was easy enough for a machine to translate and could be set on a repeat if need be to insure it got through.

 _Stuck on Asgard. Working on repairing suit. Stick to Morse code. Signal cuts out a lot here. Jazz_

 _'Glad you're alive. Will work on a replacement core for suit. Told press you decided to learn more about building things. Tony'_

Figures he'd tell the press she was getting a higher education or something, so she could _properly_ take over the business rather than relying on the ready made toys.

Some people had the knack for creating new things, others didn't.

And she did, which was why she _wanted_ to learn how to do it properly.

Jazz finished up the work that she had for the day, before taking her meager pay and heading to the tavern.

Ordering up some mead, she happily sat down and people watched. Much to her annoyance Thor came in about an hour after she did, and was already being a braggart.

Well, she had finished her current drink and she could use another.

Ignoring Thor entirely, she stood next to Loki instead and said "Two meads. One for me and one for the poor fellow who has to listen to the braggart take all the credit."

Loki's eyebrows went up, especially when he realized that a rather attractive young woman had just bought him a drink.

She smiled at him.

"You look like you need one, especially if they're going to ignore your accomplishments again. I find it rather odd they always focus more on Thor and never say much about what it is you do to help, because last I checked, Asgard had _two_ princes not just a blond with a hammer fetish."

Loki's mood lightened considerably hearing that. It had been far too long since anyone wanted to hear about what _he_ had done to help, rather than focus on his idiot brother.

"Loki," he said, holding out his hand and accepting the drink.

"Jasmine, though all my friends call me Jazz," she said cheerfully. "So is it true you know a lot about pranks, or was that just a rumor?"

Loki smirked. It looked like his night wouldn't be a total waste after all.

* * *

 _A week later..._

Jazz had to admit, she didn't expect that a fun night of having a long discussion about magic would lead to Loki seeking her out after work. It was a nice change of pace, especially since it meant she now had access to the palace library.

It was fun, discussing magic and theory with Loki. Well, that and pranks. The palace was hit with a rather large amount of them for over a week...particularly Thor. He had eaten a cake, only to turn into a large and surprised canary for an hour.

Thor looked at his brother with a smile on his face.

"You seem to have cheered up brother. Have you finally found someone worthy of a courting?"

 _Everyone_ knew that Loki had been visiting a young female mage who had chosen to learn how to build new machines rather than become a warrior or a palace mage.

Jasmine was a woman of great wit and wisdom beyond her years. She was also quite beautiful, not that she seemed to notice or care about such things. She didn't dress up, nor did she bother with anything more than the most plain clothes, and yet men's eyes would be drawn to her without fail.

"And what business is it of yours who I spend time with?" demanded Loki, defensively. He was _not_ going to be happy if Thor somehow managed to draw her attention to him.

Then again Jazz would openly call Thor a braggart with no little amount of disdain, so perhaps he was worried about nothing.

"Nothing brother. I'm just saying I'm happy for you. You seemed so dark and unhappy before, and now you're smiling like you did when we were children and you were learning new spells," said Thor quickly.

Loki paused at that.

Now that Thor mentioned it, he was feeling a sense of happiness he hadn't felt in years. Someone was actually paying attention entirely on _him_ , not Thor and listened to what HE had to say.

Thor smiled at his brother. It would seem Loki had _finally_ found someone worth his time. Someone who could keep up with him. Thor clapped his hand onto Loki's shoulder.

"I wish you luck, brother."

As Loki went to see Jazz, he thought long and hard about his interactions with her.

From what he could tell, she was more or less oblivious to romantic advances. The few times he had leaned that way, she had given confused looks and never tried to reciprocate.

Loki almost paused.

Perhaps it wasn't that she was oblivious, but more that she had no _experience_ in that sort of thing. It would certainly explain why she had no awareness of herself as a woman, as she often dressed up as a man and rarely wore anything that remotely resembled a skirt.

"Loki, what brings you down here?" asked Jazz rather cheerfully.

Loki didn't know he relaxed, but he did. With Jazz he knew that she was more or less honest and didn't really care about what most of Asgard thought of him.

He noticed she was working on something on the bench.

"What are you playing with now?"

Jazz looked at the computer with a sheepish expression.

"I've been trying to fix this for weeks, with almost no luck. At best I can do the most primitive of transmissions with it," she admitted. "It doesn't help that the power source is completely shot."

"Perhaps some time away from it would help to clear your head?" suggested Loki.

Jazz looked thoughtful.

"It has been a while since I did any real sparring practice."

Loki's eyebrows went up.

"You know how to fight?"

"I'm decent enough with magic, but I prefer to do without it. I've had some training."

Interest openly piqued, Loki lead her to the practice grounds where there was training going on.

Seeing the odd pair of fans she brought out, Loki gave her an odd look. Jazz smirked at him, and made a traditional "come at me" gesture.

All the fighting around them stopped as people stared at the style she used. It was fluid, graceful and quite interesting. They had seen nothing like it, and it was clear the fans were razor sharp.

Loki had to grimace slightly at the few cuts she had managed to inflict.

"Your fighting style seems quite interesting."

"Afraid to get a little dirty, _princess_ ,"asked Jazz with a grin, her tone clearly saying she was teasing him.

Loki smirked.

"Hardly," he replied, pulling out his daggers. To his surprise and delight, Jazz was able to keep up with him without the slightest trouble, and it took him several moments to realize why his footing always seemed off at the critical moment.

She was using small, almost impossible to detect bits of magic to _pull_ his clothing or his shoes in another direction. Not enough to get the notice of any serious fighter, but more than effective when it came to altering his blows so that they did far less damage or missed entirely.

He would have to try that particular trick on Thor sometime.

The match only ended when Loki came to the startling realization that she had successfully gotten past his guard long enough to have her deadly fan at his throat in a certain kill strike.

It was the most intense fight he had in far too long, and he could tell that his skills were definitely rusty from a lack of a real opponent.

Jazz smiled at him, and it took him a few moments to realize he was grinning back.

"What style was that?" asked Loki.

"Tessenjutsu. It's a rather obscure fighting style where I come from that uses battlefans, as opposed to swords or a staff," she replied cheerfully. "Of course I still have a long way to go with straight hand to hand, as opposed to using weapons or magic."

Both of them were startled at hearing Thor laugh.

"It would seem she has you beat, brother!" laughed Thor.

Despite being slightly winded, a wicked smirk came across her face that Thor missed. Loki, however, did not.

"Care to try your luck? I'll even go easy on you and switch to one of the other weapons I know how to use," said Jazz.

Thor rather gamely took the invitation, and Loki went to the side to watch the show. He was rather curious who would actually win, and would be silently cheering for her.

Jazz easily switched out her fans for a medium-sized staff that was about as tall as she was, with a respectable amount of weight to it.

Thor took his position, and at a quiet signal charged at her with all the grace of a bilgesnipe.

Jazz smirked, and used the staff to go airborn, before landing lightly behind Thor and using her staff to trip him without effort. Then, before he could get his wits about him, she grabbed his leg and using the momentum of him falling, proceeded to toss him. He didn't go far, but it was still fairly surprising for anyone who was watching.

Thor shook his head clear and proceeded to bring out his hammer. There was a hint of respect in his eyes now as he took her seriously.

There was a resounding crack as the staff broke into two almost even pieces, but without batting an eyelash she kept the two broken pieces and used them as seperate weapons. She blocked Thor's punches with her left side and used the right to deliver some rather nasty blows to his midsection. When she performed a roll, she then displayed a very interesting bit of flexibility that had Loki thinking of more fun ways to put to use in the bedroom that had Thor flat on his ass.

He was already enjoying this show, and it was clear that Jazz was having a lot of fun herself.

Then Thor's temper came into play as he _lightly_ threw Mjolnir at Jazz. He fully expected her to dodge or take a minor hit.

Without really thinking about it...mostly because she didn't actually think he would use _Mjolnir_ in a freaking spar, Jazz waited for it to pass right by her before she grabbed at the handle.

Everyone expected her to go flying, as Mjolnir was decidedly picky about who was allowed to weild it.

 _No one_ expected her to use the forward momentum of the hammer to send it right back into a shocked Thor's stomach, resulting in him crashing into the ground.

Complete silence.

Jazz was too busy trying to catch her breath, before she noticed the odd looks everyone was giving her.

"What?"

Loki was the one to break it.

"You just threw Mjolnir back at Thor," he replied.

Jazz blinked, then stared at Thor in disbelief.

"You used your primary warhammer on me? During a simple sparring match?" she said absolutely disgusted with him.

"You were able to grab Mjolnir and throw it back. How?" asked Loki baffled.

Only Thor was able to weild that hammer...for anyone else it was impossible to move.

Jazz looked sheepish.

"I have no idea. I just thought he was throwing a normal warhammer, not that."

That would explain why she grabbed it then. It was understandable why she would make such an error, because Thor normally didn't use his main weapon during training or lighthearted sparring matches. The hammer had been flying past her rather fast, so she might not have recognized it.

Either way, it was clear that Jazz had won that round. Thor was too rattled at having his hammer thrown back at him to be in the mood for it anymore, and Loki was still stunned she could even use it.

Probably for the best...she was exhausted.

* * *

Jazz was not happy with Thor.

After she accidentally threw his hammer back at him, he had come to bother her during work to see if it had been a fluke or not.

It wasn't. Jazz had been able to pick up Mjolnir with ease, though she held the hammer with distaste. Warhammers were _not_ her weapon of choice, and she was an engineer, not a blacksmith. About the only thing she did like about it was the fact it could control the weather, but she had always been more about _wind_ rather than thunder or lightning.

It wasn't like she was going to use the hammer to recreate Frankenstein, after all.

Finally Jazz had enough and set a ward to keep Thor out using his own magical signature. Anyone else could walk through it, but not him. A fact that entertained Loki greatly, because he borrowed it to drive his brother nuts for a week.


	12. Chapter 12

Jazz about had it with Thor and his curiosity as to why she could use his hammer. His friends were far less subtle about their interest.

Loki was just about as peeved about it as she was, likely because he was worried she might start to show interest in his more annoying older brother.

Finally she had enough...that and someone _finally_ clued her in to the fact Loki had been flirting with her for months.

The blush on her face when she found that out was rather spectacular, though not as much as the one she had when she shocked Loki by pulling him in for a very firm kiss in front of multiple witnesses.

The god of tricks was stunned silent by the display, though once he snapped out of it he looked decidedly smug about the whole thing and kissed her back.

He seemed to take the fact that he would have to court her _properly_ before she even thought of letting him near her in the bedroom rather well.

Then again, Prince of Asgard. She should have expected him to be rather old fashioned in the first place.

Loki looked at the helmet that went to her suit with curiosity.

"What sort of realm still uses this technology?" he asked, tossing it up and down a bit.

"Midgard," she replied, not really thinking about it as she was still finishing up her work for the day.

Loki stopped what he was doing to stare at her, and Jazz started kicking herself for letting it slip where she was from.

"You're from Midgard," he said in surprise.

"I had a minor mishap involving some rather dark magic and an energy conduit that lead to me crash landing in the forest on Asgard. I almost thought about seeing if I could become a Valkyrie when I realized it would put me too close to Thor for my tastes. Instead I decided to put my mind to better use," she admitted.

Valkyries _were_ a thing, but it took a lot of training and effort to become one. Easier to become an engineer and learn how to get back to Earth that way.

And again, it put her far too close to Thor and his stupidity.

Loki looked at the helmet in his hand, then at her.

"This power source you're having so much difficulty with. It's on Midgard isn't it?" he asked casually.

"Yes, and I don't really want to explain to Odin why we need to make a day trip out of it just to use the Bifrost. Never mind the fact I would have to deal with a lot of paperwork explaining the light show it makes," she replied.

Loki smirked at her.

"Who said we would need to use the Bifrost? I know a lot of the old paths, and we could easily traverse them to visit Midgard. Though where it would come out is anyone's guess."

"...So long as it's not underwater or too far up in the atmosphere, Nyx can tell us where we are. Though odds are my father will drop everything to come find me the second he finds out I'm back on Earth," Jazz replied.

Loki paused at that.

"Your...father?"

Jazz winced.

"It's a complicated story, best told with more than a few drinks," she said quickly.

"I can get the mead and a quiet room where we won't be bothered," he offered. He wanted to know more about her.

Jazz took the offer.

Once she had a few drinks of the rather strong mead, she told him a rather startling tale that sounded like it was right out of one of the old tales about heroes.

From her parents (her mother and adopted father) dying when she was very young, to an aunt that was less than pleased to have her around, to the trials set up by the people she should have been able to trust, to finally having enough and seeking her last remaining blood family. The fear of how her father would react to the fact she was a mage, to finally defeating the very man who left her orphaned for sixteen years in the first place.

Loki had to admit, it was a fantastic tale...and he would have had serious trouble believing it if the woman before him wasn't just as fantastic in her own right.

How else could one explain why she could use Mjolnir, which was so picky about who was allowed to wield it, unless there were mitigating circumstances in their past?

The girl was much like Thor in many respects, except she was less inclined to brag and far more noble than his brother. She actually _saw_ the lower classes, rather than pay lip service to helping them.

It only solidified Loki's desire to see Midgard for himself. And if anyone asked, he could claim he wished to court Jasmine properly as befitting the noble of another realm, which meant meeting her father and asking permission first.

Even if according to Jazz, her father was less than responsible and often needed a "babysitter" to keep his head on straight.

* * *

It took all of two hours of them being on "Midgard" before Tony cottoned on to the fact his daughter was back on Earth.

It took them three hours before Tony was hugging his daughter rather tightly in relief.

"So who's this?" asked Tony, finally noticing Loki.

"This is Loki of Asgard. He's the one who showed me how to get back home," said Jazz. She looked hard at Tony. "Now, would you mind explaining why I found news articles of you snapping at your party?"

Tony winced.

"I can explain."

"I know for a fact Rhodey can brew the Dreamless Sleep potion I've been giving you. And while Pepper wouldn't know how to understand what you went through, she is surprisingly competent at keeping you in line. So explain to me in _great detail_ exactly why you trashed the house," she asked sweetly, in a tone that implied he had better start talking or else.

Even Loki cringed at the tone.

 _In New York_

Loki wasn't overly impressed with the level of technology that was on Earth.

Then Jazz introduced him to the internet, musicals, and all the entertainment Earth had to offer. Never mind the fun of mixing drinks.

He was hooked instantly, and that was long before she introduced him to the twins.

Much to Loki's amusement, the _second_ they found out who Jazz brought back with her, they started bowing and saying they weren't worthy. Never mind the amusing spit take Remus did when introduced to him.

Jazz happily pleaded ignorance when she saw them conspiring.

Needless to say Loki got permission from Tony to 'court' Jazz when he successfully diverted the girl from giving her father a tongue lashing.

After being there for a week or two, Jazz turned to Loki.

"So do you feel like returning Asgard, or would you rather make day trips between the two realms and stay here?"

Loki paused at that. To be honest, he was far more at ease on Midgard...Earth... than he was on Asgard. Here he didn't have to deal with being "Thor's brother", and there was so much more to offer. Even if Earth was tragically out of date in several areas, it had quite a bit more to do. He had become fascinated with "broadway" and the classic literature that Jazz had introduced him to.

(Mostly because rather than explain what she meant when she said that Mjolnir would be good for producing storms to recreate Frankenstien, she had given him the book instead. One chapter in and he was hooked.)

Jazz looked at Loki dead in the eye.

"It's up to you. If you want to return back to Asgard, I'm fine with that. But if you want to stay here and just tell Frigga and Odin that you're courting me while getting to know me better, I can show you around Earth properly. Besides... you're the only one who knows how to traverse the old paths and actually reach Asgard," she told him.

Loki looked outside to 'New York', then thought of the sheer boredom he had dealt with back on Asgard where everyone kissed Thor's ass and only considered him an afterthought.

"I'll explain to mother and Odin that I'm going to be busy courting you properly and therefor unavailable," said Loki after a moment.

It wasn't that hard of a decision to make.

* * *

 _In Asgard..._

Frigga had smiled knowingly at her son.

"I am glad for you, Loki. You have been quite unhappy of late until found a woman to properly match you," said Frigga.

Odin was a bit busy with matters of the court, which was why Loki was telling Frigga his decision.

"For someone so young, she is rather wise for her years. I think you would like her, mother," said Loki.

"It is good to see you smile again, Loki," said Frigga. "Just be sure to bring her here to meet us if you decide to move forward with your courtship of the young mage."

Loki made sure to grab a few things that he knew Jazz had left behind, such as her tool kit and a few books from the library he knew she had been interested in. It wasn't like he couldn't swap them out later.

In a completely unrelated series of events, Loki took a better look at the 'arc reactor' that powered Jazz and Tony's suits, as well as their buildings...and almost starts swearing.

"Do you have _any_ idea what this energy is?" he asked.

"...Not really, just that Howard found it shortly before the end of World War II and never really explained where he came up with it," said Jazz confused. "Does this have anything to do with why I landed on Asgard after being hit with an obscure spell that dates back to the Viking era?"

Loki had to mentally count to ten.

"This energy," he said slowly, "Is almost _identical_ to the energy signature given off by the Bifrost."

"What?" said Jazz startled.

"What's the Bifrost?" asked Tony.

"It's how the Asgardians, particularly Thor, get around. We took some of the older paths that aren't really well mapped to get between the two realms, but only Loki has bothered to familiarize himself with where they actually go and how to use them," said Jazz. She looked at Loki. "Isn't the Bifrost powered by the remnants of the Tesseract?"

"Yes, and it has been lost for centuries," said Loki. "Which is why it's _highly_ suspicious that your technology would have an identical energy signature and that your grandfather was able to find how to reproduce it."

"Unless it was lost on Earth. Considering Odin hasn't exactly permitted travel between Asgard and Midgard for several centuries, it's entirely possible that it's been here the whole time and no one would be aware of what it was," said Jazz.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" asked Tony.

"Let me put it this way dad," said Jazz, pausing a moment for Tony to beam at her for calling him that, finally. They still had a bit to go before she was comfortable calling him that. "Imagine putting something like a nuke in the hands of the colonials or the British during the Revolutionary war without telling them the dangers of using it and letting them play around with it...never mind trying to take it apart unaware of how bad radiation is."

Tony cringed at the thought.

"The Tesseract is a source of almost unlimited energy, except messing around with it would be as dangerous as playing around with high-grade radioactive materials without the proper equipment or knowledge to use it. Just touching it with your bare hands could kill you," said Jazz slowly. "Humanity simply hasn't caught up enough to safely use the real thing. Fractions of it like our arc reactors are fine, and a step in the right direction, but we're not quite there yet."

"Never mind the fact that if you start trying to build weapons for it, it will signal to the other realms and several rather unpleasant races that humanity is ready for a higher form of warfare that they are ill-equipped to deal with. You barely have space travel to your moon... you'd never be able to handle fighting some of the species out there," added Loki.

He had been rather dismayed that Earth was that far behind when it came to space flight. Even Asgard had ships, though they weren't used much and were mostly considered relics at this point.

"I get it, I get it. We're not ready to play with the 'big boys' outside Earth. What about shields and the like?" he asked.

"That would be acceptable," said Loki. "Creating shields wouldn't be nearly as bad as trying to make weapons with this sort of energy, and could help spark others like yourselves into updating what's available now. This reliance on fossils is holding you back."

Tony looked at the arc reactor thoughtfully and an idea occurred to him. He had accidentally discovered how to make the current one by finding that old copy of the Stark Expo map and noticing something off about it.

"I know that look dad. You're up to something."

"Just thinking...what if we used your current line of defensive tech and used it to inspire other inventors to find new ways to upgrade what we have now, with a bonus to anyone who can successfully find applications for purely energy based technology without having to rely on fossil fuels? Or plans for electric plants that don't need steam, nuclear energy or water to run?" he replied. "We haven't held a Stark Expo in years, and this would generate a ton of notice."

"And if I was the one holding it, then no one would question why we're promoting something other than weapons," said Jazz dryly. "Everyone still associates you with weaponry and more recently Iron Man. However my image is completely different and no one would bat an eye to this sort of thing."

Loki found it all very interesting. Jazz just found it to be a monumental headache. Because they were using it as a way to promote something other than weapons, she was stuck doing the bulk of the organizing.

She eventually caved on the second day when Pepper tried to shove more of it on her and practically begged Loki for some help. He was much better at multitasking.

Pepper just seemed to find this the perfect opportunity to take out the fact she had landed on Asgard for almost seven months out on Jazz. Apparently she didn't like the fact she had been delegated as Tony's sole "babysitter" after getting used to Jazz keeping him in line again.

Especially after the birthday fiasco. The less said about that mess the better.


	13. Chapter 13

"Pepper, seriously, enough is _enough_. There is being professional and then there's just being plain petty," snapped Jazz.

Pepper paused and stared at her.

"What are you talking about?"

"The number of lists you keep shoving onto me. Even _Dad_ never had to deal with this sort of thing and you keep forcing me to handle petty details that any idiot could do en masse! I don't _care_ about what color the curtains have to be or what sort of food is served so long as it's edible and they don't clash! For the love of the gods, narrow it down to a more reasonable amount!" said Jazz hotly.

Loki, having walked in hearing that, had an odd look in his eye. He could tell his 'girlfriend' was very stressed out and her father's personal assistant wasn't helping in the least.

He knew that humans had a much looser definition of courtship, and to be honest he was getting _very_ frustrated with how things were progressing.

Odds were Tony wouldn't care if they moved to a more physical relationship so long as he did the honorable thing if something happened. It anything it would help her to relax.

Tony had a rather knowing look when he saw where Loki was taking his daughter. He was all for it... Jazz was entirely too tense and from what he could tell the (god? Demigod?) would be good for her.

Sure, he was too old for her...but then again Loki was several hundred years old. He was too old by _anyone's_ standards.

Jazz came to work two days later with a limp and was less likely to snap at people.

To be fair, even Tony had to admit that the amount of work Pepper was trying to shove on her because she was far more responsible was somewhat ridiculous. They were inventors, what did _they_ care about the tiny little details so long as things got done and didn't get screwed up in the long term?

As the deadline drew closer, Jazz grew more and more frazzled until the date was finally on them.

Loki took her out on a proper date, made sure she actually slept properly, and then waited patiently in the front row for the 'grand entrance/opening' of the expo, which would be going on for a full week.

He had to admit, she looked _glorious_ when she flew down with her new armor.

She was tired of being openly compared to her father, so she had opted to have the armor made of a more 'silver' colored metal rather than the gold he used, and the rest of it was a rather delightful shade of dark blue like the night sky.

It was far more 'toned down' than Tony's garish red and gold ensemble, and her armor was styled more after the images of the Valkyries from Asgard, making it very easy to distinguish herself from "Iron Man".

He found it amusing to see younger girls and a few teens wearing 'masks' identical to her own, as well as masks much like Tony's.

"Welcome one and all to the Stark Expo!" said Jazz, once her armor was off. She was in a rather delightful dress that accentuated the curves she had while being tasteful enough not to reveal too much skin.

Loki had found some of the more exposed outfits he caught human girls wearing a complete turn off. It was as if they were trying to make up for their lack of 'appealing' qualities by lowering their standards.

Loki had heard the entire speech already. How Stark Industries was trying to create the 'world of the future' that so many dreamed about, but never got around to making. Things like the 'flying craft' that wasn't dependent on fossil fuels and new designs for medical equipment to save lives, defensive technology to make the world safer and so on.

Because of Tony's old image, Jazz was the lead speaker for everything.

Tony was still annoyed she had cut out the 'dancing girls' wearing Iron Man outfits.

Her expo, her opening, and she had a much better surprise for the audience.

She sent out a discreet signal, and an odd ball was launched high into the air.

Tony and Jazz moved in unison and sent a repulsor blast to it, showering the audience with special coupons and admittance tickets for anyone who caught them.

All rather harmless, save for the odd papercut or two.

Loki easily wrapped an arm around her waist, rather smug about the whole thing even with all the cameras going off.

Jazz had never been seen dating _anyone_ after all and with a father like Tony Stark, her romatic life was going to be very hot news for the tabliods.

Thanks to a fake background they were able to make and add in, all they would find was that Loki Odinson was from a very old family with old money and traditional values. He was also working towards a law degree and was a very refined individual who ran into Jazz during an art galla that any number of people (all SHIELD agents who were perfectly capable of lying their ass off) would swear she had attented.

And since his identity came from one of the now dead lines in England, no one would think twice about the fact that he didn't have many records. Quite a number of people were being given a rude awakening to the way 'muggles' did things and having to learn new skills in order to make ends meet.

"Words cannot express how happy I will be when this is over," grumbled Jazz, once they were in the car.

Loki smirked at her, especially when the dress slipped slightly. Jazz had a lot of energy to burn, or perhaps had very good endurance, and it usually took a few rounds before she was exhausted enough to sleep soundly through the night.

Right now though she just wanted to eat something, have a stiff drink and sleep. Preferably in that order.

* * *

 _Six days later..._

Jazz very nearly strangled the Russian and the idiot known as "Hammer" for causing such a scene.

She was going to dump all of the paperwork for this on Tony. He deserved to share in the misery, considering he had been trying hard not to laugh at the fact she allowed Pepper to bully her into setting the entire mess up in the first place.

The _second_ things calmed down, and Pepper once again attempted to go through Jazz to get the paperwork done since Tony refused to do any of it, Loki offered a rather mild suggestion.

"You know with your skills you could always apply to become a Valkyrie on Asgard," he commented.

Jazz moved her hand away from her face.

"Really?"

"Most of their strength comes from the blessing, and you already have quite a bit of combat skills built up. After the way you defeated Thor, I have little doubt Brunhilde would consider you for the short list. And it's not like Pepper can force you to do paperwork in another realm."

"And I can have Nyx start the map of the old paths, never mind the fact that the suit will actually be working properly this time," said Jazz perking up.

Most of the issue with the signal came from the fact that the power was sporadic and went from strong to almost dead since it was hard to get a consistent strength from magic when you were trying very hard not to fry the damn thing.

"And let's not forget the fact that mother has been wanting to meet you properly."

Odin was hard to meet, since he was the king and quite busy. Frigga, however, was doable.

"...Want me download a ton of movies for us to watch while we're there so we don't get bored, as well as books for you to read?"

Loki smirked at her.

"You know me so well."

Jazz looked at the paperwork and all the boring details Pepper wanted her to do, because she was a co-owner and therefor able to do all the things Tony refused to do.

Then she thought of Asgard, where she actually learned a lot about engineering and building things, and where the most annoying thing she had to deal with was Thor.

"...To hell with it, we're heading back to Asgard until something happens," she said flatly. "That, or we run out of movies and books and need to reload."

"Personally I want to see people's reactions to your armor," said Loki grinning. "It would only need a bit of adjustment before it would be 'acceptable' by Asgard standards in place of the one you would get if you became a Valkyrie."

There was also the potential side effect that Jazz would grow wings if given the blessing. But that rarely happened and most of the time the warrior had to work up to that point where they would manifest.

* * *

Jazz felt like she was in front of McGonagall after having screwed up royally and was now being judged.

It was not a nice feeling.

Frigga gave her a smile, and she gave a small one back.

"Come on dear, at least let the girl try to pass the trials," said Frigga.

Odin didn't look pleased his son was dating a human, but he would give her a chance to prove herself. If only so he didn't have to worry about Loki causing untold amounts of trouble.

Besides, she could weild Mjolnir, which was the _only_ reason he was giving her a chance in the first place.

"If she can pass the trials, then I will allow it," said Odin grandly. He gave Jazz a look, as if expecting her to speak in her defense.

Instead Jazz gives him an annoyed one in return, before sighing.

"Great... yet another person all too willing to judge me based on something I never had any control over before they're even willing to _try_ and get to know me," she said tiredly.

Story of her life really. The big, important people were always too happy to make snap decisions on who they thought she should be, rather than bother to get to know who she actually was.

It was seriously starting to piss her off.

Rather than explain what she meant, she went to find Brunhilde.

Brunhilde was a very 'traditional' Asgard warrior woman. She had thick blond hair, looked like a female body builder, a well used sword at her side and massive wings that looked like they came off an eagle or bird of prey.

Jazz had seen men with smaller hands, but wisely kept her mouth shut about that.

"So the trials are dependent on how well I take to the Valkyrie's Blessing?" she asked.

"That and your tactical knowledge, skills and ability to think in a crisis," confirmed Brunhilde briskly. She already liked the girl before her and had high hopes that Jazz would pass the trials.

Even after her sound defeat of that braggart Thor, she had yet to hear a single hint of the girl showing off or being as loud as Thor would have been in showing off his superiority.

Instead Jazz had gone right back to the same thing she had done for the past week without once bringing it up or boasting about it.

She would be a fine example for the younger Valkyries.

Brunhilde lead Jazz to the waiting area where a few other girls were. Each of them was wearing a similar dress. It was pure white, and the back was completely bare. It took Jazz a second to realize why, as she remembered that sometimes those who gained the blessing were able to manifest wings immediately.

If that was the case, then obviously it would have happened during the trials as well, hence the need for a backless dress.

Jazz went into a side area and promptly swapped out what she was wearing for the backless dress. She made no indication when she heard the surprised exclamations of the other girls when they got a good look at her back.

She knew the Horntail left some impressive scars, among others.

She waited patiently for her turn.

Brunhilde intoned the oath, and waited expectantly to see what would happen. Out of all the candidates, she expected more from the girl that was allowed to wield the might hammer Mjolnir.

And she wasn't disappointed.

The second the minor blessing took effect, Jazz grimaced, and almost fell to one knee as her back seared with power.

Magnificent wings that looked the color of the night flowed from her back, as black with hints of blue feathers filled the air.

There was a reason all applicants wore that dress...sometimes the wings would manifest early, even before the trials had begun.

It was a strong indicator that the girl in question had the right qualities to make full Valkyrie.

She was moved immediately to a private area, where she could rest after expending so much power to manifest her wings. Her trial would be slightly altered because of it, but Brunhilde had little doubt the waif of a girl would pass.

* * *

Of bloody course. She couldn't even do a simple trial normally... she had to manifest raven wings from the get-go!

It was incredibly awkward getting used to the wings, though the older women were rather sympathetic about it. Most trainees didn't get them for at least a decade, if they were lucky.

Not only did she have to deal with the sore muscles, but she also had to avoid having her wings smack her in the face when she wasn't expecting it.

She got a spectacular black eye once.

Finally she had enough, and took out a needle, some thread and some scraps of cloth she had managed to get her hands on.

If her wings were going to be this much of a pain, then she was going to make them 'disappear'.

By shoving them into an expanded 'pouch' that allowed them to stretch without smacking herself in the face for it. The only issue was that it looked rather sloppy, but if it meant avoiding another black eye she could care less.

Brunhilde and the other women were incredibly amused by this...and quietly said if she could find a way to make it look more appealing that she would have a new client base.

Their wings could be a pain, and never mind trying to sleep normally! They had to lay on their side or on their stomach, otherwise they risked crushing them. It took far too much power to 'hide' the wings, which only the senior Valkyries could pull off and not for long periods.

Jazz later hit upon a bit of inspiration when she looked at one of her leather jackets. The pouches could be easily hidden in one of those and looked rather stylish.

But first she had her trials to pass.


	14. Chapter 14

Loki looked at the massive wings with open fascination. It took Jazz everything she had not to moan when he threaded his fingers through them.

No one had told her how sensitive the stupid things would be!

"So basically you had to go through an obstacle course with many perils, lead a team in a hunt in another realm, and defeat a senior warrior without tripping on these," said Loki, terribly amused.

"My luck is chaotic," she complained. "And stop doing that!"

Loki's smirk widened.

"You mean this?" he asked, stroking the feathers in a downward fashion, making sure to thread his fingers through the individual feathers.

Jazz lost her control and moaned. Loki's grin was positively smug and devious. He was going to have so much fun with this.

"Quit that!" she complained, though he could tell her heart wasn't in it.

Loki didn't bother to reply, and kept 'grooming' her new wings. He had her a complete wreck before she finally had enough and pounced on him.

He was rather pleased that his girlfriend had gotten the upgrade long before she had made full Valkyrie. It made for so many interesting new things they could do.

Of course _now_ she had to get used to the wings in question and building up the necessary muscle strength before they could return to Earth. It wouldn't do for her to have such a glaring weakness like a pair of wings she wasn't used to.

He found her the next morning at the leather smiths, showing them a rather design that she wanted. Why would she want to add discreet pouches inside the jacket she brought back with her from Earth?

Loki wasn't the only one baffled when, a few days after the new jacket was made, Jazz started walking around _without any wings visible._

"How?"

"Undetectable expansion charms on the pouches inside the jacket. Once you fit the wings through the opening, they can move freely without smacking you in the face. I have an idea for a dress that could discreetly hide them too, though that's going to be trickier," she admitted smugly. "Some wizards may have abandoned their common sense when they graduate, but _I_ never let those fools corrupt me with their so-called logic and close minded thinking."

Within a few days several of the older Valkyries were making discreet orders of their own for similar jackets, once they found out that the charms were rather stable and easy enough to cast. Jazz was very busy, but at the end of it the warrior women had a new fashion trend going on.

And that was before she made a line of dresses that had the same discreet pouches with a few minor additions to draw notice away from the remainder of the wings that weren't covered. The simple strips of cloth were covered in 'notice-me-not' charms that drew the eye away from the parts that weren't inside the pouch that hung loosely as part of the sleeve. All were quite tasteful and well within Asgardian standard for fashion without looking too garish.

Loki was vastly amused by this, as she had become the Valkyries new favorite person and member. If she ever needed their support, she had it, as he had seen even Brunhilde wearing one of her creations.

It was almost enough to distract him from the fact Thor was to be coronated soon. The braggart had far too much growing up to do before he was remotely ready to be king.

Jazz looked at Loki.

"I don't know about you, but if he gets crowned king I say we take an extended 'vacation' back on Earth."

"Agreed," said Loki. He had almost finished the books he brought with him anyway, and they still haven't gone through half of the movies. "How goes the trials of learning to fly?"

"I can hover, but that's about it for now," she admitted.

And they were surprised she was able to do that much. Then again they underestimated her love of flying. She really, really wanted to be able to swoop through the clouds with Hedwig soon. Without the armor blocking the wind in her face.

It still baffled her how stagnant Asgard was in many respects. Sure, it had a rich culture, diverse history and magical heritage...but after they cut ties from Earth it was like a slow decline into stagnation. Thankfully not to the same levels as the English magical society, but still pretty alarming.

She had introduced the complete _Lord of the Rings_ series, from the _Simarillion,_ to the _Hobbit_ and finally the trilogy _Lord of the Rings_...and almost immediately the 'plays' were a huge success.

Then again, this was more or less a medieval culture. Of course they would identify easily with Aragorn's struggles to be the king the humans needed, or the easily rivalry between Gimli and Legolas. Never mind the staunch loyalty of Samwise, or the way Merry and Pippen matured into proper adults, and the magical prowess of Gandalf.

And this was before Jazz introduced Asgard to Anne McCaffery, Mercedes Lackey and a number of other authors who were very good at building worlds that people could lose themselves in.

On an unrelated note, the dwarves that traded with Asgard had liked the series so much that she was officially on their good side. Apparently it was rare for them to hear stories where a dwarf was one of the main characters and not a supporting one.

(Though she mostly suspected that the majority of why they liked her was because she introduced the other races to the _Hobbit_ , in which the company of dwarves was rather prevalent.)

And Odin thought allowing her to date his son and actually stay in the palace would be a bad thing.

* * *

Jazz officially loved her wings, even if they were incredibly awkward as hell to get used to. She had learned through trial and error how to keep them off the ground...which was a strength exercise as much as it was a social norm among Valkyries...but the second she was able to do more than hover, she was rarely on the ground at all.

She had caught many of the older women off guard the second she perfectly executed a Wronski Feint with a near collision into the water.

Jazz was born for the air, and she damn well knew it.

Though if she was in the mood for speed, then she would put on the suit. She wasn't nearly strong enough to fly very fast, and it was only years of experience that allowed her to keep up with her older sisters, as they insisted she call them.

It was nice, like having an extended family.

Then came the minor panic that was Thor's coronation. Namely because of the fact she was dating Loki, she would have to dress up for it.

Jazz did not _like_ being near the center of attention. It gave her hives and she was much more comfortable being in the middle of a battlefield, deep in combat.

There was a _reason_ why out of Thor's little band of sycophants, she got along with Sif the best. The lone female of the group was one of her main sparring partners when using a broadsword that was roughly the same size and weight class as the Sword of Gryffindor, even if she couldn't use the real one because it was laced with basilisk venom.

That sword was firmly an emergency-only, holy shit nothing else is working, weapon.

Frigga, however, would not be dissuaded. She could tell Loki's interest in the girl from Midgard wasn't likely to abate any time soon...far from it. Which meant there was every possibility the girl might end up her daughter in law.

And that meant she had to get used to court functions.

Loki had to laugh at the grumpy look on her face.

"Just remember we only have to stick around as long as it takes for Thor to get the crown and then we're on vacation," said Loki. He gave her a look that said he would greatly enjoy getting her out of the fancy dress, even if most of it was covered by feathers.

Some Valkyries kept their wings up, but folded behind them. Others (like Jazz) opted to wrap the main bulk of the feathers like an odd sort of cloak to keep them out of the way.

Considering that humans weren't built with hollow bones like birds or to fly in general, the wing span of a Valkyrie was pretty damn big. Hence the issue of keeping said wings from smacking people in the face or just out of the way when they weren't flying or in combat.

There was a reason why Jazz's jackets and specially made dresses had been so popular. Being able to walk around without having to deal with the wings being in the way was a blessing.

She was already dreading explaining the new additions to Tony when she went home.

The tailors loved her for the extra business, so they were at least able to help customize an entirely new wardrobe to her specifications (she brought general outlines, which made it easier for them), but it was still going to be incredibly awkward.

 _The day of the coronation_

Jazz was an expert at hiding her true feelings, because she managed to keep a perfect poker face despite feeling complete and utter disgust at what a ham Thor was being. Sure, he managed to retain some level of decorum, but there was no denying the man was beyond arrogant.

Jazz kept a neutral smile on her face...next to her she could see Sif looking somewhat annoyed by Thor's grandstanding and Loki trying very hard not to roll his eyes at the display... right up until the alarms went off.

If they hadn't, then Jazz would have left several time delay pranks while they went on vacation until Thor's head cooled down.

The second Thor's ego had him gearing up to go after the Frost Giants to demand answers, Jazz had enough of his nonsense. Loki apparently was in complete agreement, because he stood back near Sif to enjoy the show.

Thor cringed when her hand lashed out and firmly grasped his ear.

"Thor, if you attempt to drag us all the way to Jotunheim to get answers from their king, I will personally see to it that your life is made a living hell. A _good_ king would never seek to cause an all out war for his people. He would wait for his people to do a proper investigation first and _then_ he would get involved," said Jazz sweetly, in the exact same tone she used with Tony whenever he was about to do something particularly stupid.

She called it "The Mom Voice".

Thor looked abashed, but was still pretty mad his big day had been so thoroughly ruined.

Jazz continued, knowing she had to hammer it into his thick skull that rushing off half-cocked would only piss off Odin and get him into a great deal of trouble.

"Let's say you actually go through with your plan and make it to Jotunheim. You confront Laufey and demand answers as to why he broke into Asgard on your coronation day, when the guard would be weakened because everyone wants to see you crowned. You've now pissed off the Jotun king, and you're neck deep in enemy territory with an unknown amount of enemies there. Sure, you'd kill a few and manage to hold them off for a bit... but knowing you, you would only take your trusted friends as well as Loki and I with you. It would be a battle of attrition and Odin would be understandably furious with your actions because you _didn't think,"_ said Jazz in a coldly clinical voice.

There was a reason Loki loved his girlfriend. She had common sense and logic, which was sadly lacking in many realms.

Seeing Thor needed the extra push, she then turned to Sif.

"Lady Sif, how would you react to this sort of attack? Would you rush in half-cocked like some greenhorn trying to seek glory, or would you first wait for someone with experience in intelligence gathering to find out whether or not this was a small part in an all out assualt?" she asked bluntly.

"I would wait. We have no idea if this is the attack of a third party, or whether it was just a minor gamble to see if they could retrieve the artifact stolen from them," she replied without hesitation. "I certainly wouldn't charge in to enemy territory without all the facts first."

Thor stormed off, angry that he couldn't just go and demand answers from Laufey.

Jazz looked at Loki.

"How much you want to bet he goes to Odin and ends up proving he's not remotely ready for the crown and gets an overdue lesson on humility?"

"No bet. Let's see if we can leave for our trip to Midgard a bit early...and warn Heimdall not to let Thor off Asgard until he cools off," said Loki.

Jazz was none too pleased when they failed to get permission to leave. Thor had definitely overstepped his father's tolerance for his arrogance, because he was banished to Earth until he learned some humility.

Odin had also made it clear that he would not hesitate to send Jazz down to Earth to retrieve Mjolnir if Thor failed his test. He would not leave the symbol of the royal family in the hands of humans, and she had already proven herself worthy to weild it...even if it wasn't her sort of weapon.

The worst part of it all was Odin's rather crappy sense of timing. He should have told Loki years ago the truth of his heritage, not after Loki took temporary control over the throne when his adopted father went into Odinsleep.

At least Odin was secure in the knowledge that the Valkyrie his son had fallen for would keep Loki from doing anything too brash.

The news he was adopted hit Loki hard. He was angry at Odin for hiding it for so long and started to feel resentment as he almost started to believe that it was because he wasn't Odin's blood son that kept the king from making him the heir instead of Thor.

Fortunately for Loki, Jazz had a wellspring of common sense and wasn't afraid to call out someone on their bullshit.

He knew if _he_ was a victim of her infamous headslaps (he had seen Tony get hit often enough when he was getting out of hand) then clearly she was about to unleash some uncommon wisdom.

"Loki, do you enjoy paperwork?" she asked bluntly.

"Not particularly."

"How about listening to the merchants whine, or being one of the few scholars and almost pure magic-users in Asgard and thus looked down upon because you actually use your brain instead of charging in like a moron?"

Loki, being far quicker on the uptake than Thor, gave her a hard look.

"You're saying I'm not fit to be king."

"No, I'm saying you'd grow to hate it immensely once you got over the fact that you were now in charge and had to put up with the nonsense that comes with it. You might be a good king, but considering Asgard is primarily a _warrior's_ society and not one that has bothered to expand their intellectual horizons, you'd never be happy. You're the sort of person who would happily use the cloak and dagger approach rather than the blunt instrument that Thor can be. While you are as charismatic as your brother...and don't give me that look, regardless of the fact you're adopted it doesn't make you any less family... you are more suited to the shadows than the limelight."

"He lied to me."

"Loki, there is more to family than blood. Yes, Odin did take you as a spoil of war, to some extent, but has he _ever_ treated you like a prize that he claimed from Laufey? Has Frigga ever shown you any less love because you were adopted, and not her blood child? Has Thor treated you any differently than he would a sibling?" she askd pointedly. "If Odin didn't think of you as his _son_ , would he have named you a prince and given you the chance to be his stand-in, rather than ask Frigga to do it?"

Loki was one for cold, hard logic, and Jazz was often rather blunt when it came to getting to the heart of the issue.

Yes, Odin _had_ kept a rather large secret from him. But Loki had never known he was adopted until now because in many ways Odin treated him the same as Thor. And Frigga had loved him as much as Thor, and had been the one to teach him his first magic.

Thor... Thor was an idiot, but even when he was in his adolescent years he had never failed to included Loki, despite the fact his "friends" claimed that he wasn't "cool" enough to be around.

His rage tempered by cold, hard logic and facts, Loki was once again very happy he had found Jasmine.

She was quite likely the only one who could have gotten through the anger and pain he felt long enough to make him see things clearly.


End file.
